Fig. 3.

Involvement of MAPK and NFκB signaling pathway in IL-6 secretion stimulated by LPS, PA or LPS plus PA. HMC3 were treated with 100 ​ng/ml of LPS, 200 ​μM of PA or LPS plus PA in the absence or presence of (A) 5 or 10 ​μM SB-203580 (SB), an inhibitor for the p38 MAPK pathway, (B) 5 or 10 ​μM SP-600125 (SP), an inhibitor for the JNK pathway, (C) 5 or 10 ​μM PD 98059 (PD), an inhibitor for the ERK pathway, (D) 1 or 5 ​μM of Bay11-7082, inhibitor for NFκB pathway, for 24 ​h. After the treatment, IL-6 level in culture medium was quantified. HMC3 were transfected with the NFκB (E) and AP-1(F) luciferase reporter and stimulated with LPS, PA and LPS plus PA for 12 and 24 ​h and then relative luciferase activity was analyzed. Firefly luciferase was used as reporter, and renilla luciferase was used as a control. ∗p ​< ​0.05, ∗∗∗p ​< ​0.001.