FIGURE 3.

Knockdown of SESN2 resulted in inhibited autophagy and increased apoptosis of osteosarcoma cells treated with chemotherapy. After treatment with Cis (20 μmol/L), Dox (0.2 μg/ml), or Mtx (50 μmol/L) for 24 h, SESN2-knockdown and control cells were subjected to western blot to detect the expression of cleaved and total PARP, LC3, and P62 expression levels (A) (n = 3). SESN2-knockdown HOS cells were treated with Cis (20 μmol/L) for 24 h with or without rapamycin (100 nmol/L) for 6 h. Proliferation was analysed by CCK-8 assay (B) (n = 3), apoptosis was assessed by Annexin V-PE/PI staining (C) (n = 3), and LC3 puncta formation was analysed by immunofluorescence (E) (n = 3, scale bar = 20 µm). Intracellular autophagosomes were observed by TEM (D) (n = 3, scale bar = 2 µm), and autophagic flux was monitored by fluorescence microscopy in HOS cells with transient expression of GFP-RFP-LC3 in HOS cells (F) (n = 3, scale bar = 10 µm). The data are presented as the mean ± SD. *p < 0.05 vs. the Control shRNA group.