Figure 6

SspA affects the expression of TJPs, BM, and CAMs in bEnd.3 cells. A qPCR analysis of mRNA expression. mRNA expression was measured by qPCR, and relative mRNA expression was calculated using the 2^−ΔΔCt method. Compared with those in cells infected with the wild-type strain Yb2, the mRNA levels of claudin-5, SELE, and VCAM-1 were significantly lower and the level of JAM-2 was significantly greater in cells infected with the SspA deletion mutant strain Yb2ΔsspA. B Western blot analysis of protein expression in Yb2‐infected cells at different time points. C Comparative analysis of protein levels in Yb2-, Yb2ΔsspA- and cYb2ΔsspA‐infected bEnd.3 cells. The expression of proteins was analysed using the Quantity One program. Mouse β-actin was used as a normalization control in both experiments. The data are presented as the means ± standard deviations of three independent experiments conducted in triplicate. Statistical significance was assessed using one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA). The asterisks indicate the level of statistical significance (*, p < 0.05; **, p < 0.01; ***, p < 0.001; ****, p < 0.0001).