Figure 5.

Combined treatment with DEX and HQH is more effective in upregulating GRα compared with DEX alone. Jurkat (A, C) and Nalm-6 (B, D) cells were cultured using 100 μmol/L DEX, 4.3 mg/mL HQH for Jurkat cells and 1.5 mg/mL HQH for Nalm-6 cells or DEX combined with HQH for 24 hours. GRα expression at mRNA level (A, B) and protein level (C, D) was measured. 100 nmol/L DEX and the same dose of HQH as above were used to treat Jurkat (E, G, I) and Nalm-6 (F, H, J) cells for 24 hours. The mRNA level of GRα (E, F), NFKBIA and GILZ (I, J) was measured by RT-qPCR and the protein level of GRα (G, H) was measured by western blotting. β-actin and GAPDH were used as the internal control for western blotting and reverse transcription-quantitative PCR, respectively. * P<0.05, ** P<0.01, *** P<0.001. HQH – Huai Qi Huang; DEX – dexamethasone; GR – glucocorticoid receptor; RT-qPCR – reverse transcription-quantitative PCR.