Fig. 2.

Western blot analysis of total and phosphotyrosine (pTyr)-signal transducer and activator of transcription-6 (Stat6) in cultured human B cells. Human B cells bearing the 15GT repeat variant of Stat6 and either the Ile50 allele or Val50 allele of interleukin (IL)-4Rα, from each of five donors with Graves' disease, were stimulated with (+) or without (–) 1 nM of hIL-4 and/or 5 nM of hIL-13 for 30 min, lysed, separated by sodium dodecyl sulphate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and subjected to Western blotting. Levels of pTyr–Stat6 were normalized to the expression levels of the respective total Stat6 proteins. The phospho/total Stat6 ratio was significantly higher in the Ile50-bearing B cells compared with the Val50-bearing B cells. Values are presented as means ± standard deviation. *Statistically significant difference at P < 0·05.