Fig. 4
RPN2 promotes MCL1 expression to mediate the radioresistance in GBM cells. a The expression of Bcl-2 family proteins in U87 parental, resistant cells, or U87 parental cells with RPN2 overexpression. b The expression of MCL1 in U87 resistant cells transfected with RPN2 siRNA. c The mRNA level of MCL1. C+: pcDNA transfection; R+: pcDNA RPN2 transfection; C-: si control transfection; R-: si RPN2 trasnfection. d The expression level of MCL1 in GBM tumors based on the database of cancer browser (https://xenabrowser.net/heatmap/). e The pearson correlation of RPN2 and MCL1 from database of cancer browser. R2 = 0.1502, p < 0.001. f U87 resistant cells transfected with MCL1 siRNA were treated with 5 GY radiation. The expression of RPN2, MCL1 and CASP3 was analyzed by western blot. g The apoptosis of U87 and A172 resistant cells treated as in (f). h The apoptosis of U87 and A172 resistant cells treated with ABT-737 (5 μM) in combination with 5 GY radiation. i The IHC staining of MCL1 in primary and recurrence GBM tumors. Left, the representative pictures; right, the histological analysis of MCL1 expression by Image J. Each experiment was performed for 3 times. *, p < 0.05; **, p < 0.01; ***, p < 0.001