P mek

All cell culture materials, including Dulbecco’s Modified Eagle Medium (DMEM), fetal bovine serum (FBS), trypsin, antibiotics penicillin-streptomycin (10,000 U/mL), and Lipofectamine 2000 were obtained from Invitrogen (Carlsbad, CA, USA). Plastic dishes and plates for cell culture and sample collection were purchased from Corning Inc. (Corning, NY, USA). The polyvinylidene difluoride (PVDF) membrane and Immobilon™ Western Chemiluminescent HRP Substrate were purchased from Millipore (Billerica, MA, USA). Detailed antibody information is as follows: IL-18 (Cat. No. GTX101368; GeneTex; Hsinchu City, Taiwan), p-MEK (Cat. No. 2338S; Cell Signaling Technology; Danvers, MA, USA), p-ERK (Cat. No. SC-7383; Santa Cruz Biotechnology; Dallas, TX, USA), MEK (Cat. No. SC-6250; Santa Cruz Biotechnology), ERK (Cat. No. SC-1647; Santa Cruz Biotechnology), and β-actin (Cat. No. SC-47778; Santa Cruz Biotechnology). All chemical inhibitors were obtained from Sigma-Aldrich (St. Louis, MO, USA), including PD98059, U0126, and ERKII. IL-17 recombinant protein was purchased from PeproTech (Rocky Hill, NJ, USA). Small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) specific for IL-18, MEK, and ERK were purchased from Dharmacon™ (Lafayette, CO, USA). The microRNA mimic specific for miR-4492 was purchased from Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (Waltham, MA, USA).