TABLE 3.

Altered Gene Expression in AhR^−/− BMM in Response to Inflammasome Activation Revealed by Real time-PCR

	Pro-IL-1β		IL-6		STAT2		STAT5a		Pai-2		Bcl-2
	Silica + LPS	Silica + LPS + caspase-1 inhibitor	Silica + LPS	Silica + LPS + caspase-1 inhibitor	Silica + LPS	Silica + LPS + caspase-1 inhibitor	Silica + LPS	Silica + LPS + caspase-1 inhibitor	Silica + LPS	Silica + LPS + caspase-1 inhibitor	Silica + LPS	Silica + LPS + caspase-1 inhibitor
C57Bl/6	2179.83	413.00	31.78	30.91	8.69	2.22	0.95	0.90	643.59	652.58	0.20	0.55
AhR−/−	3258.52	1606.83	138.14	248.99	4.53	1.20	0.53	0.56	20.97	43.41	0.53	1.25

Note. Bone marrow macrophages derived from AhR^−/− mice show elevated mRNA levels of pro-IL-1β, IL-6, and Bcl-2, yet decreased mRNA levels of STAT2, STAT5a, and serpin B2 (Pai-2) compared with wild-type C57Bl/6 macrophages in response to Nlrp3 inflammasome activation. Inhibition of caspase-1 activity with 20μM Ac-Tyr-Val-Ala-Asp-CMK showed caspase-1–dependent induction of pro-IL-1β, STAT2, and BcL-2 in response to NLrp3 inflammasome activation. Values are expressed as fold change of ΔΔCT over respective untreated vehicle control, n = 3, pooled.