Fig. 8

Sox4 silencing dramatically repressed proliferation and NLRP3 inflammasome activation by downregulating NLRP3 in IL-6-induced OSCC cells. (A) The influence of Sox4 on NLRP3 promoter activity was examined using Dual luciferase reporter gene assay, * P < 0.05, ** P < 0.01, *** P < 0.001. (B) CCK-8, (C) EdU staining, and (D) colony formation were conducted to test cell proliferation in IL-6-treated SCC-15 and SCC-25 cells, which were transfected with shSox4 or/and NLRP3 overexpression plasmid, respectively. (E) Western blot was utilized to investigate the impacts of Sox4 silencing and NLRP3 overexpression on the levels of the inflammation-related proteins in IL-6-induced OSCC cells. (F) IL-1β and IL-18 levels were analyzed using ELISA kits in the processed OSCC cells. *** P < 0.001 vs. IL-6 group; ## P < 0.01 vs. IL-6 + shSox4 group