Modulation of ACE-2 mRNA by inflammatory cytokines in human thyroid cells: a pilot study

Figures

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  Fig. 1. Mean expression of ACE-2 mRNA after treatment with cytokines alone or in combination. Modulation of expression of ACE-2 mRNA after treatment with 1000 U/ml IFN-γ and 10 ng/ml TNF-α alone or in combination in primary cultures of thyroid cells (n = 6 samples) after 24 h. The ACE-2 expression levels were normalized on GAPDH and are shown as a change in fold expression compared to not-treated cells. Bars are representative of the mean fold increase in ACE 2 mRNA expression. IFN-γ alone significantly increases the expression of ACE-2 mRNA when compared with not-treated cells (Kruskall–Wallis 63.143, p < 0.001; * IFN-γ vs. not-treated p < 0.05). Although TNF-α alone does not produce a significant increase in the expression of ACE-2, it strongly synergized with IFN-γ in inducing ACE-2 expression (** IFN-γ + TNF-α vs. IFN-γ p < 0.05)

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  Fig. 2. Expression of ACE-2 mRNA and CXCL10 secretion after treatment with cytokines alone or in combination in NHT cells (n = 6 samples). (Panel A) Modulation of expression of ACE-2 mRNA (on the left) and the secretion of CXCL10 protein (on the right) after treatment with 1000 U/ml IFN-γ and 10 ng/ml TNF-α alone or in combination in primary cultures of thyroid cells (n = 4 samples) after 24 h. The ACE-2 expression levels were normalized on GAPDH and are shown as a change in expression fold compared to expression levels in not-treated cells. The CXCL10 secretion levels are shown as protein concentration in each sample. This panel includes all the samples in which the combination of IFN-γ + TNF-α induced a similar response pattern for both ACE 2 and CXCL10 (Cluster 1). In four patients out of six (66.6%), the combination of IFN-γ + TNF-α induces a further increase in ACE-2 expression when compared with the treatment with IFN-γ alone. (Panel B) Modulation of the expression of ACE-2 mRNA (on the left) and the secretion of CXCL10 (on the right) after treatment with 1000 U/ml IFN-γ and 10 ng/ml TNF-α alone or in combination in primary cultures of thyroid cells (n = 2 samples) after 24 h. The…

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  Fig. 3. Thyroid cultures samples patterns ACE 2 expression and CXCL10 secretion levels. (Panel A) Different ACE-2 expression between Thyroid samples pattern 1 (black) and Thyroid samples pattern 2 (white). (Panel B) Similar CXCL10 secretion between Thyroid samples pattern 1 (black) and Thyroid samples pattern 2 (white). Bars are representative of mean fold increase in ACE-2 mRNA