protease and phosphatase inhibitors (Sigma-Aldrich, USA). The protein concentration
was measured with a bicinchoninic acid protein assay kit following the manufacturer's
instructions. The proteins were resolved by SDS-PAGE, transferred to a polyvinylidene
fluoride membrane and incubated overnight at 4°C with primary antibodies against
phospho (P)-SMAD 1/5/8 (Cell Signaling, USA), SMAD 1/5/8 (Abcam, USA), NFKB1 (Cell
Signaling), c-Fos (Cell Signaling), p-P38 (Cell Signaling), p-JNK and p-IkB (Anbobio,
China). The same membranes were probed with anti-β-actin antibodies (Sigma) to
normalize protein loading in each lane. Subsequently, the blots were washed in
Tris-buffered saline with Tween (10 mM Tris-HCl, 50 mM NaCl, and 0.25% Tween-20) and
incubated with the secondary antibody. Immunoreactive bands were visualized using an
ECL Plus substrate (GE Healthcare Life Sciences, China).