Research Paper Volume 15, Issue 14 pp 7124—7145

Figure 7. C188-9 treatment enhanced the effect of PRLR on regulation of Th17/Treg balance. (A) Confirmation of overexpression of PRLR in BM-MSCs using western blotting. (B) The protein levels of JAK2 and pSTAT3 in mandibular BM-MSCs were quantitated by western blot assays after overexpression of PRLR or treatment with C188-9. (C–F) Mandibular BM-MSCs from periodontitis mice were infected with PRLR-expressing lentivirus or empty vector virus, or treated with STAT3 inhibitor C188-9 or vehicle. Acute colitis in mice was induced by administering 3% (w/v) dextran sulfate sodium (DSS) through drinking water, and mice were fed ad libitum for 10 days. Control BM-MSCs or PRLR-overexpressing BM-MSCs, or C118-9-pretreated BM-MSCs (0.2 × 10⁶ cells) were infused into colitis mice (n = 5 mice per group) intravenously at day 3 after feeding DSS water. Serum and blood samples from all mice were harvested at day 10 after the DSS water was provided. (C) Disease activity index was measured at 7 days after infusion of BM-MSCs with overexpression of PRLR or with C188-9 treatment. (D) Soluble IL-17 level in mouse serum was measured by ELISA. (E, F) The percentages of CD4⁺IL-17⁺ (E), and the percentages of CD4⁺FoxP3⁺ Tregs (F) among blood CD4⁺ T cells from mice of the indicated groups were measured. n = 5 for each group; ^*P < 0.05, ^**P < 0.01; ^***P < 0.001, between the indicated groups.