Fig. 3

Chloroquine reduces autophagic flux and induce apoptosis in TNBC cell lines. a The addition of CQ 10 µM to ipatasertib and taselisib (IC50) induces accumulation of LC3II and p62 protein expression after 24 h, due the reduction of autophagic flux, while expression of cleaved parp was increased in taselisib + CQ group in MDAMB231 cell line and in ipatasertib + CQ group in MDAMB468 cell line. b Representative confocal images of cell lines immuno-stained with anti-LC3IIb antibody reveals accumulation of autophagosomes (green dots) in treatments with ipatasertib, taselisib, CQ or combinations, due to the induction of autophagy or reduction of autophagic flux exerted by CQ. In MDAMB231 cell line the maximum dosage of 10 µM was used for both drugs. Statistically significant results are reported (*** indicates P < 0.0005, ** indicates P < 0.005 and * indicates P < 0.05)