Distinct antifibrogenic effects of erlotinib, sunitinib and sorafenib on rat pancreatic stellate cells

Figure 3 Real-time PCR analysis of gene expression in small molecule kinase inhibitors-treated pancreatic stellate cells. Cultured pancreatic stellate cells (PSC) were exposed to small molecule kinase inhibitors (SMI) at the indicated concentrations for 48 h. The mRNA expression of collagen type 1 (A), IL-6 (B), MMP-2 (C), MMP-9 (D), TGF-β1 (E), α-SMA (F) and the housekeeping gene HPRT was analyzed by real-time PCR, and relative amounts of target mRNA were calculated as described in the “Materials and methods” section. One hundred percent mRNA expression of each gene corresponds to cells treated with the solvent DMSO only. Data of n = 5 independent cultures were used to calculate mean ± SE. ^aP < 0.05 vs control cultures.