Fig. 3

IL-37 inhibited IL-24-mediated EMT by blocking STAT3 and ERK1/2 pathway activation. a Representative immunofluorescence of IL-37 receptors (IL-1R8 and IL-18Rα) in BEAS-2B cells. DAPI, blue; IL-1R8, green; and IL-18Rα, red. Scale bar = 50 μm (× 400). Representative immunoblot analysis (b) and quantification (c) of STAT3 and ERK1/2 signaling pathways in BEAS-2B cells treated with 100 ng/ml IL-24 for 48 h with or without 100 ng/ml IL-37 pretreatment for 8 h. d Representative immunofluorescence of p-STAT3 and p-ERK1/2 in BEAS-2B cells treated with 100 ng/ml IL-24 for 24 h with or without 100 ng/ml IL-37 pretreatment for 8 h. DAPI, blue; p-STAT3 and p-ERK1/2, green. Scale bar = 100 μm (× 200). Bar diagrams and data are presented as the mean ± standard deviation (SD) from three replicate experiments. * vs. control group; ^# vs. IL-24 group. *^,#P < 0.05; **^{, ##}P < 0.01; ***^,###P < 0.001, ****^,####P < 0.0001