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. 2015 Oct 20;10(10):e0140613. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0140613

Fig 6. Ibuprofen and diclofenac affect STAT-3 signalling differentially.

Fig 6

Transcription factors within the STAT-3 signalling pathway were investigated by Western blot (40 μg of protein) after incubation with increasing ibuprofen (0.5, 1, 2 mM) or diclofenac concentrations (0.05, 0.1, 0.2 mM) for 24 h. (A) Ibuprofen and diclofenac reduced STAT-3 phosphorylation in HTZ-349 cells without affecting total STAT-3 levels (for detailed quantification see S5 Fig). The STAT-3 downstream target c-myc was significantly upregulated by ibuprofen (S5A Fig), whereas diclofenac blocked pSTAT-3 and c-myc in a concentration-dependent manner (S5B Fig). LDH-A, a direct target of c-myc, showed negative trends, but not to significant extent. Corresponding quantitative RT-PCR revealed significant LDH-A transcript decrease with diclofenac (0.2 mM, compared to control and DMSO control, 95% CI, * = 0.05 > p ≤ 0.01). Ibuprofen (2 mM) had no impact on LDH-A expression (B). Similar observations were made with ASA (0.2 mM). Corresponding results for A172 and U87MG were generated (see S6 and S7 Figs).