Fig 6. Upstream regulators of IκBζ mediated immune response to pneumococcus.

Human monocytes (10⁶ cells/ml) were (A-C) pretreated with the p38 MAP kinase inhibitor, SB203580 (SB; 10uM) or (D-F) the NFKB inhibitorJSH23 (JSH; 40uM) for 30 minutes followed by infection with D39 at an MOI of 0.1 for 3 and 6 h. (A,D) Cell extracts were analyzed using quantification of protein expression by immunoblotting for IκBζ and loading control HSP90. (B,E) qPCR analysis for mRNA expression of IL-6 and GMCSF. (C,F) IL-6 release from the cells was analyzed using ELISA. The immunoblot represents 4–5 independent experiments and the bar graphs represent the mean ± SEM of 4–5 independent experiments. ** p≤ 0.03, *** p<0.01. NT stands for not treated.