Fig. 3
THBS2 promotes collagen synthesis accompanied by abnormal collagen cross-linking. (A) The expression levels of COL1A1, COL1A2, and COL3A1mRNA in N-FBs transfected with THBS2 plasmid and control empty vector were detected by RT-qPCR. n = 3 for each group. Data are shown as the mean ± SEM. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01. (B) The protein expression levels of collagen markers COL1A1, COL1A2, COL3A1, LOX and LOXL2 in THBS2 transfected N-FBs were detected by Western blot. n = 3 for each group. (C) The protein expression levels of each collagen marker were quantitatively analyzed. n = 3 for each group. Data are shown as the mean ± SEM. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01. (D) RT-qPCR was used to detect the mRNA expression levels of COL1A1, COL1A2, and COL3A1in IPF-FBs transfected with si-THBS2#2 (si-THBS2#2) or si-NC (si-NC). n = 6 for each group. Data are shown as the mean ± SEM. ***P < 0.001, ****P < 0.0001. (E) Western blot was used to detect the protein expression levels of collagen markers COL1A1, COL1A2, COL3A1, LOX and LOXL2 in IPF-FBs transfected with si-THBS2#2 (si-THBS2#2). n = 6 for each group. (F) Quantitative analysis of protein expression levels of each collagen marker. n = 6 for each group. Data are shown as the mean ± SEM. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001, ****P < 0.0001.
