Figure 2.

Simvastatin treatment is associated with metabolic changes. (a) HNSCC cell lines were treated with simvastatin or vehicle for 96 hours. Cell surface MCTs were isolated by biotinylation and assayed by western blotting. EpCAM (plasma membrane marker) was used as a loading control. (b) Extracellular lactate was measured and expressed relative to vehicle-treated cells. (c) Simvastatin affects mitochondrial mass, cells were stained with 10-nonyl acridine orange (10-NAO) and signal was quantified using flow cytometry. (d) ATP measurements in vehicle and simvastatin-treated cells. Bars represent mean of at least three independent experiments. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01 & ***P < 0.001, t-test.