Effect of sodium ferulate on IL-8 expression induced by Ox-LDL in human umbilical vein endothelial cells

In the present study we try to investigate the effect of Sodium Ferulate (SF) on Oxidized Low-Density Lipoprotein (Ox-LDL) induced IL-8 expression in Human Umbilical Vein Endothelial Cells (HUVEC). HUVECs were cultured in vitro and gene chip assay was used to analyse the regulation of IL-8 gene expression in HUVEC after the stimulation with Ox-LDL and SF+Ox-LDL, respectively. The IL-8 mRNA expression was measured by real-time PCR assay and protein expression by Western and ELISA assay. The results indicated that the expression of IL-8 gene was up-regulated by 6.1 fold after stimulation by Ox-LDL in HUVECs compared with that of the control. However, the expression of IL-8 gene was down-regulated by 3.3 fold after the stimulation by SF+Ox-LDL in HUVECs compared with that of in Ox-LDL treatment group. The real-time PCR results, Western and ELISA results showed that both the mRNA level and protein level of IL-8 increased significantly in Ox-LDL group compared with that of the control, and the expression decreased obviously in SF+Ox-LDL group compared with that of the Ox-LDL group. Take it together; Ox-LDL could induce the expression of IL-8, which could be inhibited by SF. Moreover, SF down-regulated the expression of IL-8, which could reduce the inflammatory response in HUVECs.