Research Paper Volume 16, Issue 5 pp 4759—4777
Network pharmacology and transcriptomic profiling elucidate the therapeutic effects of Ranunculus ternatus Thunb on liver fibrosis via MK3-NF-κB inhibition
Figure 8. β-sitosterol inhibits MAPKAPK3 and downstream NF-κB pathway activation in LX-2 cells. (A, B) Determination of MAPKAPK3 and NF-κB pathway-related molecules in LX-2 by Western blot. Representative results from three independent replicate experiments are shown (n = 3). Data are expressed as mean ± SD (n = 3). Compared to Control; * P < 0.05, ** P < 0.01, *** P < 0.001, **** P < 0.0001. (C) Upregulated and downregulated genes of control and CCL4 groups are plotted by volcano plot. (D, E) β-sitosterol and MAPKAPK3 molecular docking results. (F) CO-IP assay shown that MK3 interacts with IκB, while β-sitosterol reduces MK3 binding to IκB.