Figure 11.

Cryptotanshinone (CPT) inhibits the growth of Huh7 cell xenografts in nude mice. (A) Photograph of extracted tumors from each group of mice (n = 6). Statistical analysis of tumor volumes (C), body weight (D), and tumor weight (E) in each group of mice (n = 6). (B) TUNEL assays were conducted to measure apoptosis in tumor tissues using immunochemistry and immunofluorescence analyses. (F) The binding mode of CPT with phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) determined by molecular docking simulation. CPT formed stable hydrogen bonds with PI3K at SER-854 and VAL-851. (G) Electrostatic surfaces of CPT and PI3K obtained using Pymol. Lower electrostatic potential denotes better binding ability. (H) Tumor tissue lysates were extracted from the control and CPT-treated groups and the expression levels of PI3K, p-PI3K, AKT, p-AKT, mTOR, p-mTOR, PARP, cleaved PARP, caspase-3, cleaved caspase-3, Bcl-2, Bax, LC3-I, LC3-II, p62/SQSTM1, and Beclin1 proteins were assessed by western blotting.