Glutathione metabolism is essential for self-renewal and chemoresistance of pancreatic cancer stem cells

Figure 5 Inhibition of glutathione synthesis and recycling decreases self-renewal and CD133 expression. Cells from the indicated patient-derived xenografts (PDXs) were treated with 100 µmol/L buthionine-sulfoximine or 1 µmol/L 6-Aminonicotinamide as indicated. A: Expression of stemness gene expression following 72 h of treatment; B: Sphere formation ability after 7 d of treatment, replenished every other day. Data are shown as fold change vs untreated conditions (Cont) for each PDX model, mean ± SE; C: Representative flow cytometry plots for CD133 expression after 48 h of treatment. ^aP < 0.05; ^bP < 0.01; ^cP < 0.001. BSO: Buthionine-sulfoximine; PDX: Patient-derived xenograft; 6-AN: 6-Aminonicotinamide.