Figure 5.

Icaritin-induces autophagy contributes to apoptosis. Assays are performed following treatment with icaritin at 20 μM for 48 hours in the presence or absence of 3-MA or z-VAD-fmk. A: Inhibition of autophagy impairs the anti-proliferative effect of icaritin as determined by MTT assay. B: Inhibition of apoptosis enhances autophagy as determined by flow cytometry. C: Inhibition of apoptosis increases the expression of LC3B-II and beclin 1 as assessed by western blot. D: Inhibition of autophagy decreases apoptosis as determined by flow cytometry. E: Inhibition of autophagy decreases caspase-3 activation as determined by ELISA kit. *P<0.05.