Fig. 7

FZKA sensitizes the effect of Gefitinib-induced cell apoptosis in lung cancer via Bcl2/mitochondrial pathway. a Cell apoptosis was induced the most in the combined group treated with FZKA and Gefitinib in vivo. TUNEL assay was performed to detect cell apoptosis in mice tumor tissues treated with FZKA, Gefitinib, or FZKA combined with Gefitinib, respectively. The magnification is 400×. ***p < 0.0001; one-way ANOVA. b A schematic diagram shows that FZKA has a synergistic effect on Gefitinib-induced cell apoptosis in lung cancer through inactivation of STAT3, followed by reducing anti-apoptotic proteins such as Bcl-2 and Mcl-1, while inducing pro-apoptotic proteins including Bax and Bim. This reduces MMP, leading to the release of Cyc-C from mitochondria to cytoplasm and then activates Caspase-9, resulting in activation of Caspase-3 and cell apoptosis