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. 2019 Jan 24;14(1):e0210077. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0210077

Fig 7. OCA potentiates the inhibitory effects of Gemcitabine or Cisplatin on iCCA cell proliferation and apoptosis.

Fig 7

a) Cell proliferation was evaluated by MTS assay, after 72 hrs of treatment with OCA, ± Gemcitabine or Cisplatin, and was expressed as percentage of untreated controls (= 100). In mixed and mucinous iCCA, OCA potentiated the inhibitory effect of Gemcitabine on cell proliferation. While in mixed iCCA cells no difference was found between low (0.5 μM) and high (1.5 μM) OCA concentrations, in mucinous iCCA, in contrast, 1.5 μM OCA was more effective than 0.5 μM in potentiating the effects of Gemcitabine (p < 0.05). The inhibitory effect of Cisplatin on proliferation of both mixed and mucinous iCCA cells was potentiated by OCA but only at the highest concentration tested (1.5 μM). Data represent means ± SD of N = 12 independent experiments. * p < 0.05 vs controls without OCA (0 μM OCA); § p < 0.05 vs Gemcitabine alone; δ p < 0.05 vs 0.5μM OCA + Gemcitabine; ¤ p < 0.05 vs Cisplatin alone. b) Apoptosis was evaluated by the Annexin V/PI assay. In mixed iCCA cells, OCA enhanced the apoptotic effect of 10 μM Gemcitabine (72 h of incubation) while no effect was found for Cisplatin. In mucinous iCCA cells, OCA failed to influence the apoptotic effect of Gemcitabine and Cisplatin. Data represent means ± SD of N = 12 independent experiments. * p < 0.05 vs controls without OCA (0 μM OCA); § p < 0.05 vs Gemcitabine alone.