Figure 4. Effects of KU-55933 and metformin on cell number, lactate production, glucose consumption and SCO2 levels in different cancer cell lines.

Cells were exposed to KU (10 µM) or metformin (5 mM) for 72 hrs. (A) The effect of KU-55933 or metformin on cell number was measured by counting cells able to exclude Trypan blue. Cell number was significantly reduced by KU-55933 (*P = 0.0394) and by metformin (**P = 0.0058). KU-55933 and metformin stimulated lactate production. Lactate production was significantly increased in cells treated with KU-55933 (*P = 0.0012) or metformin (**P = 0.0222). Glucose consumption was increased with exposure to either KU-55933 (*P = 0.0034) or metformin (**P = 0.0385) treated cells. (B) MCF-7, HeLa and HepG2 cells were exposed to KU-55933 (10 µM) or metformin (5 mM) for the indicated time. After harvesting, cells were lysed and prepared for immunoblot analyses using antibodies against SCO2, phospho-AMPK (Thr¹⁷²). ß-actin is shown as a loading control. The results are representative of three individual experiments.