Fig. 1

HM upregulated TLR4 protein and gene expression levels in the human gastric cancer cell line AGS. A Representative Western blot showing the stimulatory effect of HM and LPS on the TLR4 protein expression after 72 h exposure. GAPDH was used as a loading control. Bar graph indicates the relative expression of TLR4, calculated as a ratio of the expression of GAPDH. B Bar graph displaying the relative expression level of the TLR4 mRNA determined by RT-qPCR analysis in the AGS cells after 24 and 72 h incubation with 10 µg/mL of LPS or HM, compared with the untreated cells, calculated as a ratio of the expression to GAPDH mRNA. ^*p < 0.05 and ^**p < 0.01 compared with the control, from three independent experiments