Figure 5.

Effects of IL-22 on cell viability, apoptosis and the STAT3 signaling pathway in MG63 cells. MG63 cells were transfected with the IL-22 overexpression or control plasmid for 48 h. (A) The MTT assay was used to detect cell viability. (B) Flow cytometry was used to detect cell apoptosis and to (C) calculate the apoptosis rate. (D) Western blotting was used to detect the protein expression of Bcl-2, Bax, cleaved caspase-3, p-STAT3 and STAT3. Reverse transcription-quantitative PCR was used to detect the mRNA expression level of (E) Bcl-2, (F) Bax and (G) STAT3. (H-L) Relative Bcl-2, Bax, cleaved caspase-3, p-STAT3 and STAT3 protein levels were calculated and presented as the fold-change. Experiments were repeated three times. Data are reported as the mean ± standard deviation. **P<0.01 vs. control plasmid group.