Fig. 6

Supplementation of IL-28A recombinant protein reduces the susceptibility of Irf7^−/− mice to DSS-induced colitis by maintaining intestinal epithelial barrier function. WT and Irf7^−/− mice were administered 3% DSS, and then injected intraperitoneally with IL-28A recombinant protein (2 μg/mice) on day 5. Mice were sacrificed on day 8 and sera were collected for measuring the IL-28A protein expression (A). B Body weight change, C stool consistency scores; D bleeding scores, E colon length, F representative images of colon, G H & E staining of colon on day 8. Scale bar, 100 µm. FITC-dextran was gavaged on day 8 and sera was collected 3 h later to detect FITC-Dextran concentration (H). Colons were collected to detect the protein expression levels using Western-blot. I, J Muc2, I, K E-cadherin, I, L β-catenin, I, M Occludin protein expression were shown. WT + DSS + PBS (n = 4), Irf7^−/− + DSS + PBS (n = 5), Irf7^−/− + DSS + IL-28A (n = 5). The experiment was independently repeated two times. In A-E, H and J-M, the data are expressed as mean ± s.e.m. NS, not significant, *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001, ****P < 0.0001. One-way ANOVA with Dunnett’s multiple comparisons test (A, E, H, J-M) and Two-way ANOVA with Holm-Sidak’s multiple comparisons test B-D