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

Figure 4. Silencing VRK1 hinders TGF-β2-caused inflammation and EMT by regulating SNAI1 expression in ARPE-19 cells.

Figure 4

A, B: SNAI1 protein level was examined through Western blot; C, D: EdU staining detected EdU-positive ARPE-19 cells after transfection of OE-SNAI1/si-VRK1 (40×, 50 µm); E-H: Cell migration was measured by Transwell assay (E, F) (20×, 100 µm) and Scratch-wound assay (G, H) (10×, 200 µm); I-K: ELISA kit measured IL-8, IL-6 and TNF-α levels; L-N: Immunofluorescence detected Collagen I and α-SMA levels in ARPE-19 cells (40×, 50 µm); O, P: Western blot measured ZO-1, E-cadherin, SNAI1, α-SMA, Collagen I, MMP2, and MMP9 levels in ARPE-19 cells. n=3, bP<0.01 vs control; dP<0.01 vs TGF-β2+si-NC; fP<0.01 vs TGF-β2+si-VRK1+OE-NC. Student's t-test (B), one-way ANOVA (D, F, H, I, J, K, M, N), or Tukey's test (P) were used. VRK1: Vaccinia-related kinase 1; TGF-β2: Transforming growth factor-β2; si-VRK1: VRK1 small interfering RNA; OE-VRK1: VRK1 overexpression; SNAI1: Snail family transcriptional repressor 1; OE-SNAI1: SNAI1 overexpression; EdU: 5-Ethynyl-2′-deoxyuridine; 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.