Fig. 5
From: Mitochondrial DNA leakage induces odontoblast inflammation via the cGAS-STING pathway
mtDNA leakage into the cytosol activated the cGAS-STING pathway in inflamed mDPC6T cells. a mtDNA copy number was assessed by quantitative PCR in mDPC6T cells after treatment with the mtDNA inhibitor EtBr (1 μg/ml, 48 h). b Western blotting was used to analyze the phosphorylation of TBK1 in mDPC6T cells after treatment with EtBr (1 μg/ml, 48 h). The quantitative data represent the relative ratio of the target protein to total TBK1. c Real-time PCR was performed to measure the expression of IL-6 and CXCL10 in mDPC6T cells after treatment with EtBr. d Western blotting was performed to analyze the cytoplasmic and nuclear protein levels of p65 and IRF3 in mDPC6T cells after treatment with EtBr. β-tubulin served as the loading control for cytoplasmic proteins. Lamin A/C served as the loading control for nuclear proteins. e mDPC6T cells were cotransfected with anti-STING siRNA and mtDNA (1 μg/ml). Western blotting was used to analyze the phosphorylation of TBK1. The quantitative data represented the relative ratio of the target protein to total TBK1. f Real-time PCR was performed to measure the expression of IL-6 and CXCL10 in mDPC6T cells after cotransfection with anti-STING siRNA and isolated mtDNA. The data are the mean ± SEM, n = 3 (*p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001)