Figure 7.

Inhibition of autophagy sensitized Raji cells to Dex-induced apoptosis in vivo. (A) Raji cells stably expressing shBeclin1 (#1, #2) and shNC vectors were constructed by lentivirus infection. The knockdown efficiency of Beclin1 was evaluated by Western blot. (B) Equal number (5 × 10⁶ cells per mouse) of Raji cells stably transfected with shBeclin1 (#2) and shNC were subcutaneously injected into nude mice (n=5). At the beginning of 12th day, Dex (2.5mg/kg) was intravenously injected every 3 days. Tumor volume (mm³) was calculated by the multiplication of (long axis)/2 and (short axis)². (**P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001) (C) Tumor were excised, photographed and weighed after the mice were sacrificed by cervical dislocation at the end of 30th day. (***P < 0.001) (D) Immunoreactivities of cleaved-Caspase 3 in xenografted tumors were analyzed by the immunofluorescence assay. Nucleus were stained by DAPI. Images were acquired by a confocal microscopy (Leica) and representative data were shown.