Abstract: Objective To investigate the effect of bafilomycin A1 (BAF) on the cell proliferation, invasiveness, apoptosis, and
oxaliplatin sensitivity in gastric cancer MGC-803 cells. Methods MGC-803 cells were divided into control group, BAF group,
oxaliplatin group, and BAF+ oxaliplatin group. MTT assay and plate clone formation assay were used to assess the viability
and colony forming ability of the cells after the treatments. The expression of nucleosomes in the cells was examined with
ELISA. The cell migration and invasion after the treatments were evaluated. Western blotting was performed to detect the
expression of Bcl-2 and Bax in the treated cells, and scanning electron microscopy, immunohistochemistry and Western
blotting were employed to to observe the cell autophagy. Results Compared with the control cells, the cells treated with BAF
showed a substantial decrease in autophagosome accumulation with attenuated cell proliferation, migration and invasion.
Compared with cells treated with oxaliplatin alone, the cells treated with both BAF and oxaliplatin showed significantly
lowered autophagosome accumulation, suppressed cell proliferation, migration and invasion, increased cell apoptosis,
increased Bax expression and lowered Bcl-2 expression. Conclusion BAF can inhibit the proliferation and invasiveness of
MGC-803 cells, promote cell apoptosis by inhibiting autophagy, and enhances the sensitivity of the cells to oxaliplatin.