Fig 2: BTG3 siRNA transfection abolishes the miR-18a-5p inhibitor influences on inflammatory cytokine release in HFLSs. After transfection, the secretion of inflammatory cytokines, such as (a) TNF-a, (b) IL-1β, and (c) IL-6, and MMPs including MMP1 (d) and MMP3 (e) were determined via ELISAs in different groups. **P < 0.01 vs. inhibitor control; ##P < 0.01 vs. miR-18a-5p inhibitor + control siRNA. miR, microRNA; BTG3, B-cell translocation gene 3. Experiments were repeated for three times.

Fig 3: MSC-CM attenuates LX-2 activation. (a) qRT-PCR analysis of mRNA expression levels for COL1A1 and TGFβ-1 in LX-2 cultured alone (designated as LX-2 control), LX-2 activated with 10 ng/mL TGFβ1 (denoted as LX-2 + TGFβ-1) and treated with MSC-CM following TGFβ-1 activation (labled as LX-2 + TGFβ-1 + MSC-CM). (b) Immunofluorescence micrographs were captured to visualized the cells, with green fluorescence denoting collagen expression and blue fluorescence for nuclear staining. (c) The protein concentrations of pre-collagen and TGFβ-1 assessed by ELISA. (d) Quantification of MMP1 and TIMP1 protein measured by ELISA. All values were presented as mean ± SD, obtained from triplicate experiments. Statistical significance was as follows: *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, and ***P < 0.001