Figure 1.

The anti-proliferative effect of pimozide on liver cancer cells is not associated with cell death. Sk-Hep1, Huh7 and HepG2 cells were incubated with 5 and 10 µM pimozide for 48 h for cell viability (A) and colony formation (B) assays. (C) Apoptotic cells detected by Annexin V/PI staining. (D) Treatment of liver cancer cells with 10 µM pimozide alone or in combination with the pan-caspase inhibitor Z-VAD-FMK (10 µM) or the RIP kinase inhibitor necrostain 1 (10 µM) for 48 h before being subjected to cell viability assays. Representative images from one of three independent experiments are shown. Mean values are shown with SDs of three independent experiments; **P<0.01, compared to the control. NS, not significant.