Figure 5.

Cancer stemness properties abrogated by the combination of the YAP1 and COX2 inhibitors. (A) The expression level of SOX2 after the combination treatment for 72 h, as measured by western blotting in BFTC 905 cells (left) and flow cytometry in BFTC 909 cells (right). Cells were treated with 1 µM of verteporfin (VP) and/or 10 µM of celecoxib for 72 h. (B) The in vivo therapeutic efficacy of the combination treatment in BFTC 905 (upper) and T24 SOX2-LV (lower) tumor xenografts. Growth curves were calculated by comparing the tumor size before any treatment with the size at different time points of therapy. (C) Sphere formation assay after cisplatin (CDDP) chemotherapy combined with VP and/or celecoxib treatment for 72 h. Upper, representative images of sphere formation (scale bars, 200 µm); Lower, number of spheres in noted cell lines. (D) In vivo therapeutic efficacy of the combination of gemcitabine (GEM) and CDDP chemotherapy with VP and/or celecoxib (five per group). Upper, tumor growth curve. The combination therapy of GEM and CDDP (GC chemotherapy) is a standard regimen for UCB treatment in clinical practice, and the schedule of GC treatment was highlighted in black (GEM) and gray (CDDP) arrows. Growth curves were calculated by comparing the tumor size before any treatment with the size at different time points of therapy. Lower, xenograft tumor tissues were analyzed by western blotting. (E) The in vivo therapeutic efficacy of GC chemotherapy combined with VP and celecoxib in PDX models (five per group).

Each error bar indicates mean ± SEM. *, P <0.05; **, P <;0.01 (Kruskal–Wallis with post-hoc test). See also Fig. S7.