Fig. 4
IL-1β-stimulated COX-2 expression in FDC-like cells depends on p38 MAPK. a The effects of ERK and p38 knockdown on COX-2 induction by IL-1β were examined with FDC-like cells that had been transfected with control or siRNA against ERK or p38 before the addition of IL-1β (10 pg/ml). The expression levels of COX-1, COX-2, and β-actin were measured by immunoblotting. b The amounts of 6-keto-PGF1α in culture supernatants of (A) experiments were measured by EIA as described in Methods. c The effects of PD098059 (PD, 50 μM) and SB203580 (SB, 10 μM) on COX-2 induction by IL-1β were examined. Representative immunoblots and statistical analysis data (mean ± SEM) of three independent experiments are shown. An asterisk(s) indicates a significant difference (*, p < 0.05; **, p < 0.01; ***, p < 0.001; NS, non-significant). v, vehicle