Figure 8.

Effect of specific inhibitors of MAPKs and NF-κB pathways on the gene expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines and chemokines in IL-1β-stimulated human OA chondrocytes. Primary chondrocytes were pretreated with specific inhibitors for 2 h and were stimulated with IL-1β for 6 h. Relative gene expression of LIF (a), IL-7 (b), GM-CSF (c), ENA-78 (d) and GRO (e) was normalized to GAPDH and compared with un-stimulated control, were determined by quantitative RT-PCR. Concentrations of specific inhibitors of p38 (SB202190), JNK (SP600125), ERK (PD98059) and NF-κB (MG132) used in these studies were 100 μM, 10 μM, 50 μM and 100 μM, respectively. Value represents Mean ± SD of three different patients. # represents P < 0.05 Vs control; * P < 0.05 Vs IL-1β stimulated chondrocytes. ENA-78, epithelial neutrophil activating peptide-78; GM-CSF, granulocyte-macrophages colony stimulating factor; GRO, growth-related oncogene; IL-interleukin; LIF, leukemia inhibitory factor; MAPKs, mitogen activated protein kinases; NF-κB, nuclear factor kappa-B.