Fig. 6.

Simultaneous treatment with MDF-induced antibiotic and autophagy blocker reduced metastatic capacity of cancer cells and tumor growth rate. Quantifications of soft-agar colony-formation assays of MDA-MB-231 parental (A), resistant (B) and CSC (C) following 72 h treatment with linezolid (Lin) or hygromycin B (Hygro), in the presence or absence of HCQ. D, Quantifications of tumorsphere-formation assays of MDA-MB-231 CSC, following treatment with linezolid or hygromycin B for 9 days. Data represent the mean ± S.D. Mice (n = 5) were xeno-injected with 1 × 10⁶ parental (E), chemoresistant (F) or CSC MDA-MB-231 cells (G) and allowed tumors to form for 3 weeks. Mice were orally administrated with placebo (Cont), linezolid (Lin), HCQ, or combination of both (Combo) and tumor rates were calculated as shown on the diagram. Data represent the mean ± S.D. Comparisons between treatments and untreated controls were made using a Student's t test (*p < 0.05, **p < 0.03, ns - nonsignificant).