Figure 5.

Norcantharidin (NCTD) sensitizes lung cancer cells to cisplatin (DDP)-induced senescence and apoptosis. (A) Phase contrast microscopy revealed that cellular morphology was significantly altered, from a flat to round shape, by co-treatment with NCTD and DDP in A549/DDP cells, which indicated that cells were in a state of poor survival. (B) Colony formation assay demonstrated that the colony formation density was significantly decreased following co-treatment with NCTD and DDP in A549/DDP cells. (C) SA-β-Gal assay showing that NCTD enhanced the DDP-induced cell senescence phenotype in A549/DDP cells. (D) Western blot analysis and densitometric quantification demonstrating that NCTD enhanced DDP-induced the expression of active caspase-3 on protein level in A549/DDP cells. (E and F) Flow cytometric and immunofluorescent staining assay demonstrating that NCTD enhanced the DDP-induced apoptosis of A549/DDP cells. Results are presented as the means ± SD, and the error bars represent the SD of 3 independent experiments. ***P<0.001 vs. control group. NS, not significant.