Fig. 4.

Genetic integrin β3 inhibition prevents LPS-induced PI3K-Akt-mTOR activation and lung fibroblast autophagy inhibition. Western blot was used to detect the expression levels of integrin β3 (a), phospho-AKT (p-AKT), total AKT, phospho-mTOR (p-mTOR) and total mTOR (b) in lung fibroblasts after 6 h of 1 μg/ml LPS challenge after transfection with integrin β3 shRNA or the empty vector. Representative images showing expression of LC3 I, LC3 II and P62 in lung fibroblasts after 24 h of 1 μg/ml LPS challenge after transfection with integrin β3 shRNA or the empty vector (c). Quantification of p-AKT/total AKT, p-mTOR/total mTOR, LC3 II/ I, integrin β3and P62 protein levels normalized to GAPDH (d). Lung fibroblasts were observed by transmission electron microscopy. White arrows indicate autophagosomes (e), the semi-quantification of autophagosomes of per cell were also shown (f). Values are mean ± SD from triplicate experiments. *p < 0.05 vs. control group; **p < 0.01 vs. control group; ^#p < 0.05 vs. LPS group; ^##p < 0.05 vs. LPS group