Knockdown of autophagy genes increases cell death during early treatment times with siramesine and lapatinib but inhibits cell death at a later times.

<p>(A) Knockdown of autophagy genes <i>Atg5</i> and <i>Becn1</i> by siRNAs as demonstrated by western blot of Atg5 and Beclin-1, respectively, in MDA MB 231 cells. The protein level of Atg5 was represented by the Atg5-Atg12 complex since the conjugation between these two proteins is an essential step during a functional autophagy process (and same hereafter). (B) Inhibition of autophagy by knockdown of <i>Atg5</i> as demonstrated by western blot of LC3I/LC3-II in MDA MB 231 cells. <b>(</b>C, D) Effects of knockdown of <i>Atg5</i> or <i>Becn1</i> on siramesine and lapatinib-induced cell death at 4 and 24 hours in MDA MB 231 cells. These results were representative of three independent experiments (n = 3), *p<0.05.