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COMBINATION TREATMENT OF LITHOSPERMUM ERYTHRORHIZON POLYSACCHARIDE AND AUTOPHAGY INHIBITORS ON HEPATOMA CELLS INHIBITION AND THE UNDERLYING MECHANISM

YINGJUN CHEN 1#, YUECUI LI 2#, YONGXI TONG 3*, JUNWEI WANG 1, CHANDI XU 1, SHANSHAN CHU 1, LI YU 1, JIANZHI BAO 1, YEJIAO ZHANG 1

1Department of Infectious Diseases, People’s Hospital of Tiantai County, Taizhou, 317200, Zhejiang Province, China 2Department of Infectious Diseases, The First People’s Hospital of Yongkang, Yongkang, 321300, Zhejiang Province, China
3Department of Infectious Diseases, Zhejiang Province People’s Hospital, Hangzhou, 310014, Zhejiang Province, China

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Our paper evaluated the effects of Lithospermum erythrorhizon polysaccharide (LEP) combined with an autophagy inhibitor on hepatoma cells BEL-7404. Human hepatoma BEL-7404 cells cultured in vitro were treated with LEP alone or with the autophagy inhibitor 3-methyladenine (3-MA) (LEP+3-MA group) or chloroquine (CQ) (LEP+CQ group), respectively. MTT assay was used to detect cell proliferation, flow cytometry was used to detect the apoptosis rate, and Western blot was used to detect the changes of autophagy proteins LC3-I, LC3-II, p62 protein and anti-apoptotic protein BCl-2 (B-cell lymphoma-2). Our results showed that LEP could induce autophagy, promote apoptosis and inhibit the proliferation of hepatoma cells. The autophagy of LEP on hepatoma cells experiences the formation process of autophagosome in the early stage of cell autophagy, and autophagosome degradation occurs in the late stage of autophagy. The addition of CQ can inhibit the degradation of autophagosomes and further promote cell autophagy.