FIGURE 2.

Combination of AANG inhibits multidrug resistant hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in vitro. (A) The inhibitory effect of AA, NG or their combination AANG on the proliferation of multidrug resistant human HCC cell line R‐HepG2 were detected by MTT assay at 24 h in vitro. (B) Interestingly, AANG (50 mM of AA +50 mM of NG) effectively suppressed the growth of R‐HepG2 cells at 24 h, whereas no significant effect was found in the groups treated with 50 mM of AA or NG in vitro. (C‐E) Western blotting and real‐time PCR showed that AANG synergistically suppressed Smad3 phosphorylation but triggered Smad7 expression in R‐HepG2 cell at 24 h, compared to the mono‐treatments with AA or NG. ***p < 0.001 vs. Control, ^### p < 0.001 vs. NG, ^&&& p < 0.001 vs. AA