Extended Data Figure 6. IL-11 is required for the pro-fibrotic effects of multiple stimuli.

a–h, Cardiac fibroblasts were incubated for 24 h with TGFβ1 (a; 5 ng ml⁻¹), CTGF (b; 50 ng ml⁻¹), PDGF (c; 200 ng ml⁻¹), IL-13 (d; 100 ng ml⁻¹), AngII (e; 100 nM), OSM (f; 100 ng ml⁻¹), EDN1 (g; 250 ng ml⁻¹) or bFGF (h; 10 ng ml⁻¹) in the presence or absence of an IL-11-neutralizing antibody (IL-11ab) or IgG control (2 μg ml⁻¹). Cells were stained for ACTA2, collagen I and POSTN to monitor the amount of myofibroblasts and ECM production. High-content imaging and quantification of fluorescence (Operetta assay n = 7 measurements per n = 6 independent experiments for each condition and cellular phenotype) revealed that anti-IL-11 antibodies significantly reduce the pro-fibrotic effect of these stimuli on myofibroblast ratio and ECM production. Two-tailed Dunnett’s test. Box-and-whisker plots show median (middle line), 25th–75th percentiles (box) and 10th–90th percentiles (whiskers).