Fig. 6. Schematic diagram of the mechanism of β-elemene in reversing gefitinib resistance in NSCLC Cells by m⁶A methyltransferase METTL3 mediated autophagy.

β-elemene reverses gefitinib resistance by inducing cell apoptosis, and inhibiting cell proliferation and autophagy. In detail, METTL3 positively regulates autophagy by targeting ATG5 and ATG7, while β-elemene inhibits the autophagy flux by inhibiting acidification of lysosomes in a similar manner to chloroquine, resulting in increasing expression of LC3B and SQSTM1.