Research Article

Targeting Endothelial Adhesion Molecule Transcription for Treatment of Inflammatory Disease: A Proof-of-Concept Study

Figure 2

TNF-α-induced expression of cellular ICAM-1 is significantly reduced by NF-κB1 silencing, but constitutive expression is not impacted. Human retinal endothelial cell monolayers were transfected with NF-κB1-targeted (NF-κB1) siRNA or nontargeted (NT) control siRNA and treated with TNF-α or no cytokine for 24 hours. Cellular ICAM-1 was fluorescently labeled by indirect immunocytochemistry; fluorescence of endothelial monolayers was read by microplate reader and adjusted for background fluorescence and cell number. (a) Graph showing relative level of ICAM-1 protein on the surface of endothelial cells. Bars represent mean relative level, with error bars showing standard error of the mean. monolayers/condition. Data were analyzed by two-tailed Student’s -test. ns = not significant. (b) Graph showing relative NF-κB1 transcript expression in human retinal endothelial cell monolayers that were transfected in parallel. Reference gene was 18S rRNA. Bars represent mean relative expression, with error bars showing standard error of the mean. monolayers/condition. Data were analyzed by two-tailed Student’s -test.
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