Fig. 5

Upregulation of Sox4 prominently resisted blocking STAT3 mediated suppression of proliferation and NLRP3 inflammasome activation in IL-6-induced OSCC cells. SCC-15 and SCC-25 cells were dealt with 25 ng/ml IL-6 or 25 μmol/L Protosappanin A, and transfected with Sox4 overexpression plasmid. The expression change of Sox4 was confirmed with RT-qPCR (A) and Western blot (B). (C) CCK-8, (D) EdU staining and (E) colony formation was applied to exhibit the change in cell proliferation. (F) Western blotting analysis of the inflammation-related proteins. (G) ELISA analysis of IL-1β and IL-18 levels. ** P < 0.01, *** P < 0.001 vs. IL-6 group; ## P < 0.01, ### P < 0.001 vs. IL-6 + Protosappanin A group