Fig. 5

SOX2 was found to regulate cell cycle and apoptosis of Ewing’s sarcoma cells via the PI3K/Akt signaling pathway. a WB assay showed SOX2 knockdown resulted in decreased expressions of PI3K and Akt and the loss of p-Akt in A673 and RD-ES cells. b Overexpression of Akt was evaluated by WB analysis. c Four groups were designed for Ewing’s sarcoma cells as mock control, SOX2 knockdown, Akt overexpression and the contransfection of siSOX2 and Akt plasmids. Expression levels of SOX2, Akt and p-Akt of the four groups were examined by WB. d Further investigation of the proteins targeted by SOX2 and Akt involved in the Ewing’s sarcoma cells apoptosis and G1/S transition, including Fas, Bad, caspase-9, caspase-3, p21, p27 and cyclin-E, were analyzed by WB in the four designed groups. Representative data from one of three independent experiments are exhibited in (a–d)