Fig. 3.

Targetting PI3K/Akt pathway hampers the inhibitory effect of docetaxel and abrogates synergy. a Akt was knocked down in PC3 cells by transfection with selective siRNA. Levels of phospho-Akt, phospho-mTOR, phospho-S6 and their corresponding total forms determined by Western blot is shown on the left. Cell viability by MTT is shown on the right. b PTEN phosphatase was overexpressed in PC3 by transient transfection with a plasmid containing full-length human PTEN and Flag and levels of phospho-Akt, phospho-mTOR, phospho-S6 and their corresponding total forms were determined by Western blot. The densitometric analyses of bands is shown below. c Cell viability and isobologram of PC3 cells transfected with PTEN plasmid and treated with DTX, CAP or both. *p < 0.05 significant difference between treated and control cells by two-way ANOVA and Dunnett’s multiple comparisons test; ^‡p < 0.05 indicates significant interaction between DTX and CAP treatment; ^#p < 0.05 significant different between siAKT and siC by two-way ANOVA and Sidak’s multiple comparisons test