the effect of salusin-β on expression of pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines in human umbilical vein endothelial cells (huvecs)

Background: atherosclerosis is one of the predominant causes of cardiovascular disease (cvd). several studies indicated the significant pathophysiological role of salusin-β in atherosclerosis. cytokines are involved in all stages of atherosclerosis. therefore, we aimed to assess the effect of salusin-β on interleukin 6 (il-6), interleukin 8 (il-8), interleukin 18 (il-18) (as inflammatory cytokines) and interleukin 1ra (il-1ra) (as anti-inflammatory cytokines) levels in human umbilical vein endothelial cells (huvecs). methods: the huvecs were cultured in huvec completed medium and treated with different doses of salusin-β for 6 and 12 hours. for the investigation of nuclear factor ƙβ (nf-ƙβ) signaling pathway involvement, cells were treated in the presence or absence of bay 11-7082 (as nf-ƙβ inhibitor). the mrna expression and protein level of cytokines were measured by a realtime polymerase chain reaction (pcr) system and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (elisa) method, respectively. results: salusin-β increased mrna expression and protein level of il-6, il-8 and il-18. this protein decreased mrna and protein level of il-1ra in huvecs. nf-ƙβ signaling pathway was involved in the up-regulatory effect of salusin-β on mrna expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines. the down-regulatory effect of salusin-β on il-1ra expression could not be influenced by bay 11-7082 pre-treatment. conclusion: it seems that salusin-β may participate in a cascade pathway in vascular inflammation. our findings suggested that salusin-β has potential use as a therapeutic target for atherosclerosis.