Figure 5.
Effect of pyruvate kinase isozyme M2 (PKM2) inhibitor (shikonin) and glutaminase (GLS) inhibitor (BPTES) on the growth of xenografted tumor by OCUM‐2MD3/hypo cells in vivo. (a) Tumor size. Subcutaneous inoculation of OCUM‐2MD3/hypo cells (1 × 107 cells/0.2 mL/site) resulted in tumor formation at all sites. The size of s.c. xenograft tumors treated by the combination of shikonin and BPTES (n = 4) was significantly decreased in comparison with the control (n = 4). Separately, both shikonin (n = 4) and BPTES (n = 4) significantly decreased the tumor size compared with the control. (b) Mitotic indices. The number of tumor cells undergoing mitosis (arrows) was decreased following PKM2 inhibitor and/or GLS inhibitor treatment. (c) Ki‐67 staining of tumor. Expression levels of Ki‐67 in cancer cells of the mice treated by shikonin and/or BPTES were significantly lower than that in vehicle‐treated mice. Six randomly chosen fields were counted for each assay and the mean of six fields was calculated as the sample value. *P < 0.05.