Figure 5.

DCA sensitizes human glioma spheroids to apoptosis and induces their differentiation through PKM2–Oct4 interaction. (a) Confocal analyses of the subcellular localization of Oct4 and PKM2 in dissociated neurospheres. (b) PKM2–Oct4 complexes (red dots) were visualized by proximity ligation assay in control (Con) or DCA-treated human glioma spheroids and were quantified (graph). (c) The expression of the indicated markers was assessed using flow cytometry. The graphs shown are representative of three independent experiments and the mean percentage of positive cells is indicated. (d) Primary GBM cells were pretreated with 10 mM DCA for 24 h and then cultured in the absence or presence of 50 μg/ml etoposide (Eto) for a further 24 h. The cell lysates were extracted and the caspase activity as determined by cleavage of the substrate DEVD was determined. The graph shown is representative of three independent experiments and the mean±S.D. is indicated