Figure 3.

CLA decreased miR-155 and increased protein expression of miR-155 targets, BCL-6 and SHIP-1, in polarized M2 THP-1 macrophages. Polarized THP-1 macrophages were treated with CLA blend (25 µmol/L) for 18 h using DMSO (0.1%) as the control. microRNA was converted to cDNA which then underwent qRT-PCR analysis for (A) miR-155 expression using RNU48 and RNU6B as the reference genes. Error bars are representative of four independent experiments (n = 4) carried out in duplicate and averaged and graphed as fold over control (F.O.C.). mRNA was analyzed by qRT-PCR for (B) IL-10 expression (n = 5). Western blotting and densitometry analysis were performed on (C) BCL-6 (n = 4), (D) SHIP-1 (n = 5), (E) p-STAT-3 (n = 4), and (F) MR (n = 4) using β-Actin and GAPDH as controls. Statistical analysis was carried out using multiple paired t-tests where *p < 0.05 represent statistical significance. * over the columns represents statistical significance when compared to the control group M0 treated with DMSO. Significance between other groups is indicated by capped lines.