Figure 5

Suppression of PEDV replication through activation of the STAT3 signaling pathway following pIL-11 treatment. A pIL-11 induces the phosphorylation of STAT3 and AKT in Vero E6 cells. Western blotting detected specific signaling pathway makers downstream of pIL-11 after treatment with increasing concentrations of pIL-11 (range from 10 to 100 ng/mL) and in Vero E6 cells expressing either IL-11 shRNA or NC. GAPDH was used as the loading control. B Statistical results of the target protein expression. C Inhibition of STAT3 phosphorylation abrogated the anti-PEDV activity of pIL-11. Vero E6 cells were stimulated with 50 ng/mL pIL-11 for 18 h and treated with a STAT3 phosphorylation inhibitor S3I-201 (20 μM), for 24 h, PI3K inhibitor LY294002 (20 μM) and AKT phosphorylation inhibitor MK-2206 2HCl (10 μM), for 2 h. Then, Vero E6 cells were infected with PEDV for 24 h, while viral titers from different groups were detected using plaque assay. D Western blotting detected the protein expression of PEDV and IL-11/STAT3 pathway markers in Vero E6 cells after pretreatment with S3I-201 or 50 ng/mL pIL-11. Data are presented as the mean ± SD of three independent experiments. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01.