Fig 4.
GC treatment leads to a reduction in TJ expression in MS patients. TJ gene expression in PBLs from MS patients in relapse following therapeutic intravenous methylprednisolone GC treatment as determined by (A) real-time RT PCR analysis of paired samples from before and 7 days after GC treatment initiation for each donor. RNA relative levels described by 2ΔΔCT values for the genes JAM1, JAM3 and CLDN5 (n = 28 for each gene). (B) Bar graph depicting the claudin 5 protein levels before (pre) and following (post) GC therapy (n = 8). The relative intensity of claudin 5 compared to β-actin signals was quantified by densitometry using Western blot analysis; representative blots shown in bottom panel for three patients. PC: positive control of extract from HEK 293 cells transfected with a claudin 5 expression construct.