FIGURE 4.

Celastrol potentiates the anti-tumor activity of bortezomib in xenograft mouse model. (A) A schematic representation of experimental protocol as described in the section “Materials and Methods.” Group I (control) received corn oil 100 μl i.p. for 5 days a week, group II received 0.25 mg/kg celastrol in 100 μl corn oil for 5 days a week, group III received 0.25 mg/kg bortezomib in 100 μl corn oil i.p. weekly, and group IV received 0.25 mg/kg celastrol in 100 μl corn oil i.p. 5 days a week and 0.25 mg/kg bortezomib in 100 μl corn oil i.p. weekly for three consecutive weeks. (B) Photographs of tumor tissue dissected from the mice after the end of treatment period. (C) The body weight of mice that was measured twice a week during the duration of the experiment. (D) Tumor size of each mice was measured using a vernier calipers twice a week for the duration of the experiment and tumor volume calculated using the formula [L ×W²]/2, where W and L are the width (short diameter) and the length (long diameter) of the tumor. (E) Tumor volumes in mice measured on the last day of the experiment with vernier calipers and calculated using the formula [L × W²]/2. Columns, mean; bars, SD. ^∗p < 0.05, ^∗∗∗p < 0.001.