Fig. 1.

Box plots representing mRNA STAT3 expression of five independent measurements, performed in triplicate. The upper and lower limits of the boxes represent the 75th and 25th percentiles, respectively; the horizontal bar across the box indicates the median and the end of the vertical lines indicate the minimum and maximum data values. Quantitative real-time PCR was used to analyze the influence of STAT3 rs744166 genotypes on the STAT3 mRNA expression before and after LPS or Pam3Cys stimulation. Gene expression was normalized to the expression of a reference gene, glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH). PBMCs of healthy H. pylori-negative subjects, as determined by ¹³C-urea breath test, carrying rs744166 GG (n = 3), AG (n = 3) or AA genotypes (n = 3) were stimulated with 100 μg/mL LPS or 100 μg/mL Pam₃Cys for 6 h. RNA was purified and STAT3 mRNA expression analyzed by qRT-PCR. A cDNA synthesis reaction including all components except the reverse transcriptase was subsequently used as control for quantitative real time PCR (qRT-PCR). Distilled water was also used as a negative control