Figure 8


Effect of LPS on TGF-β levels and EMT in RLE-6TN cells. The level of TGF-β in the supernatants of cultured RLE-6TN cells was examined by ELISA (a). The protein levels of ZEB1, ZEB2 (b), E-cadherin, vimentin, and α-SMA (c) in RLE-6TN cells were detected by western blotting. In addition, the p38 (d) and smad3 (e) phosphorylation levels in RLE-6TN cells were also detected by western blotting after RLE-6TN cells were stimulated with LPS and TGF-β for 24 h. All data are expressed as the mean±s.d. from at least three replicate experiments. *P<0.05 and **P<0.01 vs the control group; #P<0.05 and ##P<0.01 vs the LPS group; &P<0.05 vs the TGF-β group.