Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress in Colonic Mucosa of Ulcerative Colitis Patients Is Mediated by PERK and IRE1 Pathway Activation

Figure 2

Activation of ER stress pathways in the colonic mucosa of UC patients. (a) Expression analysis of EIF2AK3 was performed by qPCR. Transcriptional levels of EIF2AK3 are shown as a fold change, . (b) EIF2AK3 in situ hybridization was performed on FFPE slides from intestinal mucosa of the UC and CTR groups. The arrows indicate EIF2AK3-positive cells, which are shown as pink dots. The white arrows indicate positive epithelial cells and the black arrows signalize positive cells from the lamina propria. Scale bars: 50 μm. (c) Quantitative analysis of immunohistochemistry staining for p-eIF2α of both groups. For UC, ; for CTR, ; . (d) Immunohistochemical analysis of p-eIF2α was performed on paraffin-embedded slides from intestinal mucosa of both groups. The arrows indicate p-eIF2α-positive cells, which are shown in brown. The white arrows indicate positive epithelial cells, and the black arrows signalize positive cells from the lamina propria. Scale bars: 50 μm. (e) Expression analysis of ERN1 was performed by qPCR. Transcriptional levels of ERN1 are shown as a fold change, . (f) ERN1 in situ hybridization was performed on FFPE slides from intestinal mucosa of both groups. The arrows indicate ERN1-positive cells, which are shown as pink dots. The white arrows indicate positive epithelial cells, and the black arrows signalize positive cells from the lamina propria. Scale bars: 50 μm. (g) Quantitative analysis of immunohistochemistry staining for sXbp-1 of both groups. For UC, ; for CTR, ; . (h) Immunohistochemical analysis for sXbp-1 was performed on FFPE slides from intestinal mucosa of both groups. The arrows indicate sXbp-1-positive cells, which are shown in brown. The white arrows indicate positive epithelial cells, and the black arrows signalize positive cells from the lamina propria. Scale bars: 50 μm. (i) ATF6α transcriptional analysis was performed by rt-PCR. Transcriptional levels of ATF6 are shown as fold change, . CTR = control; UC = ulcerative colitis.

(a)

(b)

(c)

(d)

(e)

(f)

(g)

(h)

(i)