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Fig. 1 | Immunity & Ageing

Fig. 1

From: Role of androgens in dhea-induced rack1 expression and cytokine modulation in monocytes

Fig. 1

The anti-androgen flutamide prevents DHEA-induced effects. a, b RACK1 mRNA expression. THP-1 cells (a) or PBMC (b) were treated with flutamide (50 μM) or DMSO for 1 h, followed by DHEA (10 nM) or DMSO for 16 h. DMSO (0.1 % final concentration) was used as vehicle control in all experiments. RACK1 mRNA expression was assessed by Real Time-PCR. Results are expressed as mean ± SD of three independent experiments (a) or as dots of individual donors responses (b). *p < 0.05 vs Control cells and §p < 0.05 vs DHEA alone. c, d Representative Western blot analyses of RACK1 (c) or GRβ (d) immunoreactivity in THP-1 cells. β-Actin immunoreactivity was used as protein loading control. Representative Western blots are reported. Cells were treated with flutamide (Flut, 50 μM) or DMSO (Cont) for 1 h and then DHEA (10 nM) or DMSO was added for 24 h. e, f Effect on cytokine production. THP–1 cells were treated with flutamide (50 μM) for DMSO or 1 h, and then DHEA (10 nM) or DMSO was added. After 24 h, LPS (10 ng/ml) was added for 3 h to assess TNF-α release (e) or 24 h to assess IL–8 release (f). Results are expressed as mean ± SD, n = 3 replicates. Data is representative of three independent experiments. Statistical analysis was performed with Tukey’s multiple comparison test with **p < 0.01 vs LPS treated cells and §§, p < 0.01 vs DHEA + LPS treated cells

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