NC enhanced the biological effects of imatinib in K562 and primary CML cells.

<p>(A) Soft agar colony formation assay was performed in K562 cells after treatment with NC (4 μM), IM (0.2 μM) or both. Colonies >0.1 mm in diameter were counted under a microscopic bright field at 50× magnification. One representative picture was shown. Columns represented means ± S.E. (n = 3). **, <i>P</i><0.01. ***, <i>P</i><0.001. (B) Apoptosis rate was detected by annexin V/PI double staining after K562 or K562/G01 cells were treated with NC (4 μM), IM (0.2 μM) or NC+IM for 48 hrs. (C) BMMCs from 5 CML patients were treated with NC (4 μM), IM (0.5 μM) or NC+IM for 48 hrs, and annexin V/PI double staining was used to detect apoptotic rate. (D) BMMCs from three CML patients (P1, P2 and P4) were treated with 0, 4 or 8 μM NC for 2 days. c-Myc and β-actin were detected by western blot. (E) BMMCs from five CML patients were treated with 8 μM NC or control for 2 days. The relative level of mature miR-17 and miR-20a were detected by real-time qRT-PCR. RNU6 was used as internal control.