Fig. 1
From: Rhein sensitizes human pancreatic cancer cells to EGFR inhibitors by inhibiting STAT3 pathway
Rhein inhibits phosphorylation of STAT3 on Tyr705 and induces apoptosis in pancreatic cancer cells. a Docking of rhein and napabucasin to the STAT3 SH2. b The effects of rhein on cell viability in pancreatic cancer cells. Pancreatic cancer cells were treated with rhein at different concentration ranges as indicated for 48 h, then cell viability was evaluated by MTT assay, the IC50 is indicated. c PANC-1 cells were transfected with luciferase reporter gene plasmid and treated with rhein for 24 h. The results were normalized to the Renilla luciferase activity. d Rhein inhibited the phosphorylation of STAT3 Tyr705 in a dose-dependent manner. e Western blot analysis of the expression of apoptosis-associated proteins in cells treated with rhein. Cells were treated with rhein at different concentrations as indicated for 36 h, the cell lysates were processed for Western blot analysis of the protein expression of BCL-2 and BAX. GAPDH is used as a loading control. f Pancreatic cancer cells were treated with rhein for 36 h and assayed for caspase-3 activity. The statistical data are presented as mean ± SD from three independent experiments. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001