1. Inhibition of Stat3 signaling pathway decreases TNF-α-induced autophagy in cementoblasts.
- Author
-
Wang, Leilei, Wang, Yunlong, Du, Mingyuan, Liu, Zhijian, Cao, Zhengguo, Hao, Yunru, and He, Hong
- Subjects
- *
STAT proteins , *TUMOR necrosis factors , *AUTOPHAGY , *HOMEOSTASIS , *APOPTOSIS - Abstract
Autophagy is a self-digestive process that eliminates impaired or aged proteins and potentially toxic intracellular components to maintain homeostasis. We previously demonstrated that TNF-α played a critical role in cementoblast differentiation, mineralization and apoptosis; however, the effect of TNF-α on cementoblast autophagy has remained unclear. In this study, an elevated immunofluorescence signal of LC3B and autophagic vacuoles, autophagosomes and autolysosomes were detected under TNF-α stimulation in OCCM-30 cells. Autophagy-related genes and proteins, Beclin-1, LC3A and Atg-5, were significantly upregulated by TNF-α in a time- and concentration-dependent manner. During this process, the activity of Stat3 was dramatically enhanced and when the activity of Stat3 was blocked by either a specific chemical inhibitor or siRNA transfection before TNF-α stimulation, the TNF-α-induced upregulation of autophagy-related genes and proteins was strongly inhibited. Our results suggest that TNF-α induced autophagy in cementoblasts was dependent, or partially dependent on the activity of Stat3 signaling pathway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2018
- Full Text
- View/download PDF