Figure 5.
Effect of estrogen and interleukin 1β (IL-1β) on gene expression in primary cultured human thymic epithelial cells (TECs). Effect of RANKL (10−9 M) on AIRE mRNA expression (A). Effect of estrogen (10−8 M) or IL-1β (1 ng/ml) on the mRNA expression of AIRE (B), myelin proteolipid protein (PLP) (C), interleukin 6 (IL-6) (D), CCL21 (E), and tumor growth factor-β (TGF-β) (F) in primary cultured human TECs. For each experiment, cells were incubated for 24 h. mRNA expressions were normalized to 100 in control untreated cells. Each point represents the mean value of an experiment using primary cultured TECs (day 7) obtained from different donors (n > 5). mRNAs were analyzed by real-time PCR and normalized to GAPDH. p Values were obtained using the non-parametric Mann–Whitney test. Asterisks indicate significant differences (*p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, and ***p < 0.001).