Autophagic cell death induced by reactive oxygen species is involved in hyperthermic sensitization to ionizing radiation in human hepatocellular carcinoma cells

Figure 2 Hyperthermia increases ionizing radiation-induced autophagy in hepatocellular carcinoma cells. HepG2 cells were treated with hyperthermia (43 °C for 0.5 h) followed by ionizing radiation (4 Gy). After 72 h of incubation, the cells were assessed for autophagy by flow cytometry using acridine orange staining (A and B), or by Western blot analysis of LC3II and p62 expression (C) (Lane 1: Control; 2: Hyperthermia; 3: Radiation; 4: Hyperthermia + radiation). Results are presented as the mean ± SD of three different experiments, or representative of three different experiments. ^aP < 0.05 vs treatment of ionizing radiation alone.