Effect of tumor necrosis factor (TNF-α treatment on selected NF-κB gene expression in HMEC cells.

aRatio of the mRNA content in stimulated cells for 4 hours by TNF-α to the mRNA content in the unstimulated cells was calculated. This time was chosen from preliminary kinetic analysis on gene candidates (such as E-selectin and IL-8) (see also Table 4). Values shown are calculated from three independent experiments, each experiment in duplicate.bNQ, not quantifiable: very low levels of target gene mRNA that were only detectable, but not quantifiable, by means of the real-time quantitative RT-PCR assay (Ct values >35).