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Fig. 3 | Journal of Experimental & Clinical Cancer Research

Fig. 3

From: CXCR4-targeted nanotoxins induce GSDME-dependent pyroptosis in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma

Fig. 3

zVAD pre-treatment of 22A-CXCR4+ and 74B-CXCR4+ cells shows T22-PE24-H6 and T22-DITOX-H6 activation of caspase-3/GSDME-mediated pyroptosis. A Phase-contrast imaging of 22A-CXCR4+ and 74B-CXCR4+ cell lines with and without zVAD pre-treatment (100 μM) 1 h prior to the addition of T22-PE24-H6 or T22-DITOX-H6 (magnification 200x). zVAD clearly inhibits pyroptotic cell morphology in both cell lines. B Cell viability of 22A-CXCR4+ and 74B-CXCR4+ cells either pre-treated or not with zVAD before the addition of T22-PE24-H6 and T22-DITOX-H6 nanotoxins. C LDH release from 22A-CXCR4+ and 74B-CXCR4+ treated with T22-PE24-H6 or T22-DITOX-H6 for 48 h, with and without zVAD pre-treatment. D Representative images of pro-caspase-3, cleaved caspase-3, PARP, GSDME, and tubulin western blots of samples from 22A-CXCR4+ and 74B-CXCR4+ cell lines exposed to the inhibitor zVAD before nanotoxin treatment for 48 h. * p < 0.05; ** p < 0.01. Each column represents the mean value of three biological replicates. Statistical analysis performed by Student t-test. Error bars indicate SEM

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