Figure 2.

Met(O)-ApoA-I, but not Met(O)-ApoA-I amyloid fibrils, induced accumulation of pro-IL-1β (34 kDa) in mouse BMDMs. Unprimed mouse BMDMs were incubated with either buffer (iPBS), apoA-I samples (1 μm), or LPS (0.5 μg/ml) for 4 h. Pro-IL-1β levels were measured in cell extracts by Western blotting. A representative Western blot analysis with β-actin as a loading control is shown in the inset. Vertical black lines in the Western blots indicate positions where unnecessary lanes were removed from the original scans. No mature IL-1β (17 kDa) or degradation products of pro-IL-1β were detected in the cell extracts. Values are means and S.D. (error bars) of at least eight independent determinations from four independent experiments for all samples but Met(O)-ApoA-I fibrils, for which the result is the mean and S.D. of four independent determinations from two independent experiments. Probabilities that Met(O)-ApoA-I and Met(O)-ApoA-I fibril results are significantly different from ApoA-I results and that LPS results are significantly different from iPBS results were evaluated by the t test. Significance values are reported as p < 0.001 (***).