Fig. 3

Western blot analyses showing phosphorylation of a STAT3^Tyr705, b AKT^Ser473 and c ERK1/2^{Thr202/Tyr204} in human vascular endothelial cells treated with IL-6 alone (50 ng/ml) or in combination with sIL-6R (100 ng/ml). One representative blot containing the phosphorylated protein, total protein and β-tubulin (loading control) is shown for each pathway (left column). The signals from the phosphorylated proteins and total proteins are first normalized to β-tubulin, and the ratio of the phosphorylated proteins and the total proteins are calculated. The graphs show arbitrary units (a.u., control is set to 1) compiled from 3 independent experiments presented as mean ± SEM for each pathway (right column). *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001 compared to control