Figure 2

Knockdown of IL-37 enhances the inflammatory responses to TLR4 stimulation in human AVICs. AVICs were pretreated with IL-37 siRNA (60 nmol/L) or scrambled siRNA (60 nmol/L) for 48 h and then treated with LPS (0.1 µg/mL) for 24 h. (A) A representative immunoblot shows that cells treated with IL-37 siRNA + LPS had lower levels of IL-37 protein compared to cells treated with LPS alone or scrambled siRNA + LPS. Densitometric data and representative immunoblot show that cells treated with IL-37 siRNA + LPS produced higher levels of ICAM-1. (B) Cytokine data show that knockdown of IL-37 enhanced the production of IL-6 and IL-8, but not MCP-1, induced by LPS. Data are mean ± SE. n = 5 experiments using cell isolates from distinct donor valves; *P <0.05 versus control; #P <0.05 versus LPS alone; ΔP< 0.05 versus scrambled siRNA + LPS.