Fig. 4

Differential inactivation of AKT by saracatinib determines its therapeutic outcome for head and neck tumors in orthotopic xenograft mice. a–g were results from HN8-derived orthotopic xenograft mice, and h–n were results from HN12-derived orthotopic xenograft. a, h The effect of free (Sar) and NP-associated saracatinib (Nano-sar) on the phosphorylation levels of Src and AKT. b, i The effects of free and NP-associated saracatinib on cell viability. c, j The effects of free and NP-associated saracatinib on colony formation. d, k The effects of free and NP-associated saracatinib on 3D cell growth. e, l Tumor development and progression in mice receiving the indicated treatment monitored by examining bioluminescence in the Xenogen IVIS-200 In Vivo imaging system on Day 21. The representative images and quantitative data (n = 5) were shown in the left and right panels, respectively. f, m The representative images showing the size of tongue tumors in mice receiving the indicated treatment. g, n The levels of phospho-AKT in orthotopic xenograft tumors receiving different treatments determined by IHC. The representative IHC images were shown in the left panel, and quantification of IHC staining using Image pro-Plus6.0 was shown in right panel. *p < 0.05; **p < 0.01