title: Shikonin promotes autophagy in BXPC-3 human pancreatic cancer cells through the PI3K/Akt signaling pathway.
abstract: The present study aimed to investigate the effect of shikonin on autophagy in BXPC-3 human pancreatic cancer cells and its underlying mechanism. Cell viability was assessed using the Cell Counting Kit-8 assay and the expression of light chain (LC) 3, p62, phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K), Akt, phosphorylated (p)-PI3K and p-Akt was analyzed using western blot analysis. Following treatment with 1 μmol/l shikonin for 48 h and 2.5 and 5 μmol/l shikonin for 24 and 48 h, the viability of the BXPC-3 cells was found to be significantly reduced and the protein expression of LC3-II/LC3-I was observed to be increased, while the protein expression of p62, PI3K, Akt, p-PI3K and p-Akt was decreased. These findings suggest that shikonin promotes autophagy in BXPC-3 cells and that the underlying mechanism may be associated with the PI3K/Akt signaling pathway.
authors.affiliation: Department of General Surgery, Third Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan 410013, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Shuqing
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Shi
authors.affiliation: Department of General Surgery, Third Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan 410013, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Haimei
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Cao
keywords: BXPC-3 cells; LC3; autophagy; shikonin