Figure 6.

Effect of IL-1β and budesonide on SCF promoter gene activity. Human lung fibroblasts in culture were transiently cotransfected with pGL3e/SCF-2159 (WT: pale grey) or pGL3e/SCF-ΔκB (dark grey) firefly luciferase constructs in combination with a Renilla luciferase construct (pRL-TK) as an internal control. At 48 h after transfection, cells were stimulated with solvent (control: ethanol), IL-1β (400 pg ml⁻¹), budesonide (0.1 μM) or a combination for 30 min. Then cells were harvested for luciferase activity measurements. The results are expressed as the level of WT and ΔκB constructions promoter-driven firefly luciferase expression after correcting for the transfection efficiency by pRL-TK luciferase measurements (relative luciferase activity), and represented as a percentage of control values. Results are mean (blocks)±s.e.m. (bars) of two independent experiments performed in triplicate in fibroblasts from three different donors ^*P<0.05, ^**P<0.01.