Figure 3.

ELE enhanced 5-FU-mediated apoptosis in MDA-MB-231 and BT549 cell lines.

Notes: (A) Both cell lines were treated with indicated concentrations of ELE, 5-FU, their combinations and incubated for 48 h. Following incubation, the cells were stained with AO and EB, and images were captured. (B) We checked the cyt-c release from the mitochondrial intermembrane space after MDA-MB-231 cells were treated with ELE, 5-FU, or their combination for 48 h via the immunofluorescence assay. (C) The expression levels of major proteins, including those of Bcl-2, Bax, cl-caspase-3, and cl-PARP, were determined in both cell lines through Western blot after the treatment with ELE, 5-FU, or their combination. The data obtained from three independent experiments were presented as mean ± SD, and the significance levels were *P<0.05 and ***P<0.001.