Figure 4.

Tocilizumab inhibits cfDNA-induced TLR-9-NF-κB pathway activation. (A) Secreted embryonic alkaline phosphatase (SEAP) released from HEK-293 Blue hTLR9 cells stimulated with CpG-ODN or cfDNA, n = 8. (B) Correlation between SEAP levels and cf-nDNA concentration. Straight line: regression line, grey area: 95% confidence interval, Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient. (C) SEAP stimulated with cfDNA, with or without tocilizumab (TCZ). Results are the ratio of cfDNA-stimulated SEAP to unstimulated SEAP, n = 5. (B, C) Mean ± SEM.(Student’s t-test); *P < 0.05. ** P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001; n.s.: not significant. (D) Immunofluorescence staining of HEK-293 Blue hTLR9 cells stimulated with CpG-ODN or cfDNA, with or without TCZ for 6 h