Fig. 6

Expression profile of autophagy-related proteins in MDA-MB-231 cells treated with As^III and Tetra, alone or in combination. After treatment with various concentrations of As^III and Tetra, alone or in combination, for 48 h, the expression profile of autophagy-related proteins was analyzed using western blot as described in “Materials and methods”. Representative image of the expression profile of each protein is shown from three independent experiments. The densitometry of protein bands was analyzed using a program, NIH ImageJ 1.52a. The values under each image represent the ratios between each key molecule and β-actin protein expression levels, which were further compared with those of control group (untreated cells). As, As^III; Tetra, tetrandrine. Since enough cells cannot be collected in the group treated with 15 µM As^III in combination with 4.5 µg/ml Tetra due to its strong cytotoxicity, western blot analysis were not conducted