Fig. 6

TGF-β production (a-b) and TGF-β inhibition effect in BEAS-2B cells exposed to MWCNT (c). Cells were incubated for 96 h in either the absence (0 μg/ml, control) or presence of pMWCNT (white square) or MWCNTg (black square) at the concentration of 5.5, 11, 22 and 44 μg/ml (a) or incubated up to 24 h in either the absence (0 μg/ml, control) or presence of 44 μg/ml MWCNTg (b). The TGF-β production was evaluated by ELISA in the supernatants of cells exposed to MWCNT. Results were expressed as relative fold change compared to control cells (n = 3). No significant variation was observed in control cells at the different time points evaluated. a Versus control *p < 0.05, **p < 0.0001; Versus control °p < 0.05, °°p < 0.0001. b Versus control *p < 0.05, **p < 0.0001. c The cells were incubated in either the absence (0 μg/ml, control) or presence of 44 μg/ml of MWCNTg for 96 h, without and with 5 μg/ml of neutralizing anti-TGF-β antibody or 10 nM TGF-β siRNA. The efficacy of TGF-β siRNA was evaluated by semi-quantitative PCR. Each figure is representative of three experiments giving similar results. Results were expressed in units of relative protein expression compared to control cells (indicated in red in the figure)