Figure 2.

siRNA mediated knockdown of TLR4 significantly reduced mRNA and protein level of PFKFB3.

(A) Western blot analysis showed that whereas TLR4 protein level was decreased, the PFKFB3 protein level was also down-regulated in the liver cell line HL-7702. (B) Western blot analysis was translated into relative expression level for TLR4 and PFKFB3 as in (A). (C) Quantitative PCR was performed to investigate the TLR4 mRNA level in siRNA-transfected cell lines. (D) PFKFB3 mRNA level was also down-regulated whereas TLR4 was decreased using siRNA technology. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01.

NC, negative control; PFKFB3, 6-phosphofructo-2-kinase/fructose-2,6-biphosphatase 3; siRNA, small interfering RNA; TLR4, toll-like receptor 4 .