Fig. 1.

CAPE suppresses tumor growth in C57BL/6 mice by inhibiting PI3K/AKT/XIAP pathway. C57BL/6 mice were kept on antioxidant-free diet for a week. Exponentially growing B16F0 (1 × 10⁶) cells were injected subcutaneously into the right flanks of 24 mice. When the tumor reached 70 mm³ in size, mice were randomly segregated into two groups with 12 mice in each group. Treated group of mice received 10 mg/kg/day CAPE in 150 µl of 50% dimethyl sulfoxide/saline by intraperitoneal injection for subsequent 7 days, whereas control mice received vehicle alone. The animals were weighed twice a week. Tumors were measured using vernier calipers. Effect of CAPE on (A) % tumor volume and (B) % tumor weight was evaluated. In order to determine the mechanism of tumor growth suppression, tumors were homogenized, lysed and subjected to western blot. (C) Representative immunnoblots showed the effect CAPE treatment on thephosphorylation of PI3K at Tyr 458, AKT at Ser 473, mTOR at Ser 2448 and protein levels of PI3K, AKT, mTOR, XIAP, cleaved caspase-3 and cleaved PARP. Each lane represents tumor data from eight control and eight treated mice, respectively. The blots were stripped and re-probed for actin to ensure equal protein loading. Values are mean ± SD of 12 samples. *P < 0.05, statistically significant compared with control.