Figure 4.

Phosphorylation of USP20 on Ser334 augments arterial inflammation.A, carotid arteries of female mice from Figure 2 were serially sectioned and immunostained with IgGs specific for the p65 NFκB subunit phosphorylated on Ser536 (“phospho-p65”), the NFκB-dependent gene product VCAM-1, total p65, ACTA2, or no protein (isotype control (“Ctrl”) IgG). Each section was counterstained with Hoechst 33342 for nuclear DNA. Confocal fluorescence photomicrographs are shown; scale bars = 20 μm. The dotted line denotes the external elastic lamina. B, for each carotid artery section, protein immunofluorescence in the tunica media and intima was normalized to DNA fluorescence; these ratios were normalized to the average ratio obtained for WT carotid arteries and plotted as mean ± SD of six specimens per genetic group. Compared with WT: ∗p < 10⁻⁴ (2-way ANOVA with Sidak multiple comparisons test). L, lumen; USP20, ubiquitin-specific peptidase 20.