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Fig. 6
Drug inhibition assay on IL6 signaling pathway. (A) Real-time RT-PCR after inhibitor treatment (PI3K inhibitor BKM120 and STAT3 inhibitors Niclosamide and Stattic). Graphs are shown with mean values and standard error bars. The STAT3 inhibitors showed the decreased expression of the downstream components in the JAK/STAT3 pathway. No significant downregulation of the genes in the PI3K/Akt pathway was observed. The asterisk indicates the significant difference between the inhibitor-treated group and the control as determined by Mann-Whitney U test (P < .05). (B) H&E images. (C–E) IHC for PCNA, pSTAT3, and pPI3K after the drug treatment. BKM120 treatment showed downregulation of the pPI3K expression. pSTAT3 expression, however, was not completely suppressed by STAT3 inhibitor treatment. Note that pSTAT3 and PCNA were heavily expressed in the same dysplastic area of serial sections (red circles, sections from the same liver tissue). (F) ISH for Appa showing downregulation by STAT3 inhibitors. Bars, 50 µm.