Journal: Scientific Reports
Article Title: Cancer-Associated fibroblasts regulate the development of cholangiocarcinoma through IL-6/STAT3/AKR1C3 signaling axis
doi: 10.1038/s41598-026-37583-y
Figure Lengend Snippet: CAFs regulated the occurrence and development of CCA by activating the AKR1C3/STAT3 signaling axis. (A) The mRNA expression levels of AKR1C3 in QBC939 and TFK1 cells after co-incubation with CAFs were detected by Q-PCR. ** P < 0.01. (B) The protein expression levels of AKR1C3, P-STAT3, and T-STAT3 in QBC939 cells after co-incubation with CAFs at different times were measured by Western blot. (C) After CAF treatment with or without Ab-IL-6 and (or) AKR1C3 knockdown for 8 h, the expression of AKR1C3, P-STAT3, and T-STAT3 were detected by Western blot in QBC939 cells. (D) After treatment of CAFs with or without Ab-IL-6 and (or) AKR1C3 knockdown for 8 h, the expression of PCNA, P-GP, GLUT-1, and PFK-1 were detected by Western blot in QBC939 cells. The proliferation (E) and glycolysis levels (F) in QBC939 and TFK1 cells after treatment of CAFs with or without Ab-IL-6 and (or) AKR1C3 knockdown were assessed by CCK-8, glucose uptake, and lactate release, respectively. * P < 0.05, ** P < 0.01, *** P < 0.001. The cell colony (G) of QBC939 cells exposed to 40 µM 5-FU after treatment of CAFs with or without Ab-IL-6 and (or) AKR1C3 knockdown were detected by crystal violet staining. Ab-IL-6, 2ug/ml.
Article Snippet: Antibodies against P-STAT3 (9145 S), T-STAT3 (30835 S), PCNA (2586 S), P-GP (13879 S), GLUT-1 (73015 S) were purchased from Cell Signaling Technology (Danvers, MA, USA).
Techniques: Expressing, Incubation, Western Blot, Knockdown, CCK-8 Assay, Staining