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. 2026 Mar 18;19(3):443–454. doi: 10.18240/ijo.2026.03.03

Figure 2. VRK1 regulates TGF-β2-caused inflammation and EMT in ARPE-19 cells.

Figure 2

A-C: IL-8, TNF-α, and IL-6 levels were measured by ELISA kits; D-G: Immunofluorescence measured surface area and α-SMA fluorescence intensity of ARPE-19 cells (40×, 50 µm); H, I: Western blot measured ZO-1, E-cadherin, SNAI1, α-SMA, Collagen I, MMP2, and MMP9 protein levels. n=3, bP<0.01 vs control; dP<0.01 vs TGF-β2+si-NC; eP<0.05, fP<0.01 vs TGF-β2+OE-NC. One-way ANOVA (A, B, C, E, G) or Tukey's test (I) was utilized. VRK1: Vaccinia-related kinase 1; TGF-β2: Transforming growth factor-β2; si-VRK1: VRK1 small interfering RNA; OE-VRK1: VRK1 overexpression; TNF-α: Tumor necrosis factor-alpha; IL: Interleukin; α-SMA: Alpha smooth muscle actin; SNAI1: Snail family transcriptional repressor 1; MMP: Matrix metalloproteinase; ZO-1: Zonula occludens-1; EMT: Epithelial-mesenchymal transition; ARPE-19: Human retinal pigment epithelial cell line.