Fig 1: Effect of TLR2 treatment on NF-?B activation. The activation of NF-?B inhibited cholesterol efflux in THP-1 and RAW264.7 macrophage-derived foam cells. Western blot analysis reveals the total NF-?B protein expression and the phosphorylation of NF-?B in (A) THP-1 and (B) RAW264.7 macrophage-derived foam cells transfected with siRNA-TLR2, TLR2 overexpression vector and control vector. The graph bars represent the densitometry results of p-NF-?B (p65) protein expression. Cholesterol efflux was detected by liquid scintillation counting in (C) THP-1 and (D) RAW264.7 macrophage-derived foam cells treated with 10 ng/ml LPS or with 10 ng/ml LPS + 50 µM PDTC for 24 h. *P<0.05 vs. control group; #P<0.05 vs. LPS group. TLR2, Toll-like receptor 2; siRNA, small interfering RNA; NF-?B, nuclear factor-?B; p-, phosphorylated; LPS, lipopolysaccharides; PDTC, pyrrolidine dithiocarbamate.