FIG. 3.

SEB stimulates epithelial Hsps both directly and indirectly. Representative Western blots (n = 3) showing that SEB alone (10 μg/ml, 24 h) or exposure to LPLs (2 × 10⁶/well) induce MSIE Hsp25 and Hsp72 expression. The latter was inhibited by addition of a neutralizing MAb against IL-2 (2 μg/ml) to the basal compartment of the culture well housing the LPLs. Hsc73 is included as a control for protein loading, and HS (heat shock) is included as a positive control for induction of Hsp25 and Hsp72. Densitometric values for Hsp25 and Hsp72 were obtained with NIH Image 1.54 software and are means ± standard errors (SE) of the results from three experiments. *, P < 0.05; +, P < 0.01; ++, P < 0.001 (compared with medium alone by analysis of variance with Bonferroni corrections) (Instat Software; Graph Pad, San Diego, Calif.).