Research Paper Volume 16, Issue 2 pp 1829—1844

Figure 4. IL-17-induced promotion of IL-18 production in OASFs requires MEK signaling. (A) OASFs were pretreated with MEK inhibitors PD98059 (10 μM) or U0126 (5 μM) for 1 h, then incubated with IL-17 (10 ng/mL) for 24 h. IL-18 expression was determined by qPCR. (B) OASFs were transfected with MEK siRNA or control siRNA for 24 h, then stimulated with IL-17 (10 ng/mL) for a further 24 h. IL-18 expression was assessed by qPCR. (C, D) OASFs were treated as described in Figure 4A, 4B. IL-18 production was examined by ELISA. (E) OASFs were stimulated with IL-17 (10 ng/mL) for different time intervals (0–60 min). The total cell lysates were collected and Western blot assessed MEK protein phosphorylation. (F) The quantification result of MEK protein phosphorylation was shown. Results are expressed as the means ± S.D. * p<0.05 compared with controls; # p<0.05 compared with the IL-17-treated group.