Figure 1.

ASX enhances gemcitabine-induced pancreatic cancer cell death. (A) HPCCs and GR-HPCCs were treated with various concentrations of gemcitabine for 24 h. (B) GR-HPCCs were pretreated with 0.1% DMSO or 200 µM ASX for 2 h, and then treated with various concentrations of gemcitabine for 24 h. (C) GR-HPCCs were pretreated with various concentrations of ASX for 2 h, and then treated with 1 µM gemcitabine or 0.1% DMSO for 24 h. Cell viability was determined using the Cell Counting kit-8. The cell death ratio was determined using a trypan blue assay. *P<0.05; **P<0.01; ***P<0.005. ASX, astaxanthin; HPCCs, human pancreatic cancer cells; GR-HPCCs, gemcitabine-resistant HPCCs; DMSO, dimethyl sulfoxide.