Co-treatment of A549 cell with IL-1β and <i>Viscum album</i> inhibits the cytokine-induced COX-2 expression.

<p>A549 cells were treated with IL-1β (10 ng/ml) and two different concentrations of <i>Viscum album</i> Q Spez preparation for 18 hours. Cytosolic COX-2 was measured using flow cytometric analysis. <i>Viscum album</i> is added to the cells either from the beginning of the experiment along with IL-1β (co-treatment) or after 14 hours of IL-1β induction (post-treatment). Percentage COX-2 expression as measured in intracellular staining by flow cytometry (A) and mean fluorescence intensity (MFI) of COX-2 expression (B) is shown. Results are mean ±SEM of 4 independent experiments (**<i>p</i><0.01; ***<i>p</i><0.001).</p

Effect of <i>Viscum album</i> on the stability of COX-2 protein as analyzed by flow cytometry.

<p>A549 cells were stimulated with IL-1β for 90 minutes with or without VA Qu Spez. Cells were harvested at different time intervals after blocking the protein synthesis with cyclohexamide (10 μg/ml) for 90 minutes till 11 hours. Normalised percentage COX-2 expression as measured in intracellular staining by flow cytometry (A) and mean fluorescence intensity (MFI) of COX-2 expression (B) is shown. Data is representative of mean ±SEM of three independent experiments.</p

Effect of <i>Viscum album</i> on the stability of COX-2 protein as determined by western blot.

<p>Confluent A549 cells were treated with IL-1β in the presence and absence of VA Qu Spez in dose dependent concentrations in μg/ml. Cells were harvested at different time intervals after blocking the protein synthesis with cyclohexamide (10 μg/ml) for 90 minutes till 11 hours. COX-2 expression was measured by western blot using the cytosolic extracts. (A), inhibition of COX2 protein synthesis by VA at 18 hours. (B) (C) (D) are the representative western blots after 90 minutes, 5 hours and 11 hours respectively showing level of COX-2 expression after cyclohexamide treatment with or without <i>Viscum album</i>. β-actin was used as an internal control. All blots are representative of three independent experiments and the densitometry values for each band are mentioned below the representative blots.</p