Fig. 3

IL-6 observably accelerated proliferation and NLRP3 inflammasome activation by JAK2/STAT3 pathway in OSCC cells. SCC-15 and SCC-25 cells were processed with 5 μmol/L JAK2 inhibitor (Fedratinib) and 25 μmol/L STAT3 inhibitor (Protosappanin A), and induced by 25 ng/ml IL-6 for 24 h. The expression change of Sox4 was monitored using RT-qPCR (A) and Western blot (B). Cell proliferation was also tested using (C) CCK-8, (D) EdU staining and (E) colony formation. (F) The levels of inflammation-related proteins were assessed with Western blot. (G) ELISA kits were adopted to examine the concentration of IL-1β and IL-18 in the processed OSCC cells. *** P < 0.001 vs. control group; ## P < 0.01 vs. IL-6 group