Fig. 6.

Rapamycin-induced autophagy of ECs from PGF patients enhanced their HSC-supporting ability. The intracellular levels of (a) LC3, (b) Beclin-1 and (c) p62 in BM ECs from PGF patients and GGF patients were analysed after 6 h of treatment with rapamycin. (d) Representative images (left panel) and quantification (right panel) of autophagic vacuoles in BM ECs after 6 h of treatment with rapamycin (original magnification, 10 × , scale bars represent 50 μm). Three random high-power fields were analysed, and the results were averaged per condition. (e) The CFU plating efficiency and (f) apoptosis rate of BM CD34⁺ cells after 7 days of coculture with BM ECs from PGF and GGF patients after 6 h of treatment with rapamycin. Wilcoxon's test for paired data was used to identify drug effects. All P-values<0.05 were considered significant and are provided in the figure. *P<0.05, **P<0.005, ***P<0.0005.