Autophagy inhibition sensitizes hepatocellular carcinoma to the multikinase inhibitor linifanib.

ABSTRACT: Autophagy is a critical survival pathway for cancer cells under conditions of stress. Thus, induction of autophagy has emerged as a drug resistance mechanism. This study is to determine whether autophagy is activated by a novel multikinase inhibitor linifanib, thereby impairing the sensitivity of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cells to this targeted therapy. Here, we found that linifanib induced a high level of autophagy in HCC cells, which was accompanied by suppression of phosphorylation of PDGFR-β and its downstream Akt/mTOR and Mek/Erk signaling pathways. Cell death induced by linifanib was greatly enhanced after autophagy inhibition by the pharmacological inhibitors or siRNAs against autophagy related genes, ATG5 and ATG7, in vitro. Moreover, HCQ, an FDA-approved drug used to inhibit

SUBMITTER: Pan H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4202209 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature