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. 2014 Mar 13;9(3):e90933. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0090933

Figure 3. Involvement of NLRC4 and RICK in NTHi-induced human β-defensin 2 up-regulation.

Figure 3

(A) Luciferase assays show that NTHi lysate-induced human β-defensin 2 up-regulation is enhanced by silencing of NLRC4 (a NOD2 inhibitor) but is inhibited by silencing of RICK that is downstream to NOD2 in the HMEEC cells. NC: a control group transfected with a nonspecific siRNA, KD: a group transfected with a gene-specific siRNA. (B) RT-PCR analysis showing siRNA-mediated inhibition of NLRC4 and RICK expression in the HMEEC cells. (C) Luciferase assays demonstrate that NTHi lysate-induced NF-κB activation is inhibited by the siRNAs specific to NOD2 and RICK in the HMEEC cells. pTAL-luc: a control vector containing the firefly luciferase gene with a TATA-like promoter region from the Herpes simplex virus thymidine kinase promoter, pNFκB-luc: a vector containing multiple copies of the NF-κB consensus sequence fused to pTAL-luc, Tx: treatment. Results were expressed as fold-induction, taking the value of the non-treated group as 1. The experiments were performed in triplicate and repeated twice. Values are given as the mean ± standard deviation (n = 3). *: p<0.05.