Fig. 1

Optimization of the treatment schedule potentiates MTA-cisplatin anticancer efficacy. a Schedule of the three tested treatment regimens differing in the duration of MTA pretreatment preceding cisplatin addition (see text for details). b Growth curves of A549 cells during the treatment (0-3 days) and early recovery phase (up to 14 days post-treatment). c Representative images of large A549 clones (clones are indicated by arrows: treatment #1, 2 clones on the top half of the image; treatment #2, clone on the top half of the image) and small clones (treatment #1 clone on the bottom-right of the image; treatment #2, 1 clone on the bottom half of the image; treatment #3 one small clone visible) at day 10 of the recovery phase. Clones consisting of cells with a small surface area are clearly distinguishable from the background consisting of cells with an enlarged surface area. Quantification of clones was performed as described in the material and methods section. d A549 cells exposed to the indicated treatment regimen were harvested at day 10 of the recovery phase, reseeded and cell numbers were determined at the indicated time points. e Quantification of colony formation ability of H460 cells as described in C. f Cell growth of H460 cells during the extended recovery phase as described in D. Data represent means of three independent experiments and bars indicate standard deviations. **, P < 0.01 and *, P < 0.05