FIG. 4.

ULK1 is required for statin-mediated autophagy. (A) Representative western blots examining the phosphorylation of ULK1 at Ser757 in HL-1 cells treated with statin in the absence or presence of 100 μM mevalonic acid as indicated. Treatment groups identified as: vehicle (DMSO) and simvastatin. (B) Quantitation of results shown in (A) (DMSO, solid bars; simvastatin, hashed bars). n=4 per group; experiments were performed twice. *p-value<0.05. (C) HL-1 cells were silenced for ULK1 before treatment with simvastatin. Cells were probed for LC3 lipidation as an indicator of autophagy, and ULK1 to confirm siRNA efficacy. (D) Quantitation of results shown in (C). n=4 per group; experiments were performed twice with similar results. *p-value<0.05. ULK1, unc-51-like kinase 1.