Fig. 9: PM exposure suppresses the secretion of various growth factors or cytokines that are related to toxicity networks.

Human growth factor antibody array analysis was performed using PM-treated or untreated protein samples. The membrane was printed with antibodies against 40 growth factors, cytokines, and receptors. The levels of eleven growth factors (AR, HGF, NT-4, TGF-β3, EGF, IGFBP4/6, PDGFR β, VEGFR3, and FGF4/7) were significantly decreased in the PM-treated protein samples (a, b). The bar graphs show the average of three independent experiments. Significant differences are presented. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.005, and ***p < 0.001 (two-sample t-test).