Figure 5.

SOX9-mediated the phosphorylation of ERK1/2 but not P38 and JNK. (A) Volcano plot showing the DEGs with the knockdown of SOX9 in OFs cultured from patients with TED by RNA sequencing (n = 3). (B) Gene Ontology (GO) term enrichment analysis of DEGs. (C) Signaling pathways in Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) database enrichment analysis. (D) OFs cultured from TED patients were transfected with siRNA or lentivirus prior to stimulation with 10 ng/mL TGF-β1 for 1 hour (n = 3). Protein levels of p-P38, P38, p-ERK1/2, ERK1/2, p-JNK, JNK, and GAPDH were determined by Western blot. (E) Quantification and statistical analysis of relative protein expression. (F) SOX9-overexpressing OFs were treated with 10 ng/mL TGF-β1 for 90 minutes with pretreatment with 20 µM U0126 or vehicle (0.1% DMSO) for 1 hour (n = 3). The expression of ECM-related proteins (α-SMA and CTGF) was detected by western blot assays. (G) Quantification and statistical analysis of relative protein expression. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ****P < 0.0001.