Figure 5.

Treatment with the CTSS inhibitor mitigates the IgA1-stimulated the proliferation of HMCs in vitro. HMCs were pre-treated with vehicle or the CTSS inhibitor overnight and stimulated with, or without, IgA1 for the indicated time periods. Their morphology was observed under a light microscope and their cell viability was determined by CCK-8 assay. The relative levels of Ki67 to GAPDH mRNA transcripts were examined by qRT-PCR. Data are representative images or expressed as the means ± SD of each group from three separate experiments. (A) Morphological changes of cells. (B) CCK-8 analysis of cell viability. (C) Quantitative RT-PCR analysis of Ki67 mRNA transcripts in the cells. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01 vs. the Controls; ^#P < 0.05, ^##P < 0.01 vs. the cells without the CTSS inhibitor.