<i>In vitro</i> characterization of bIL-8-Luc reporter construct.

<p><b>A</b>) Schematic diagram (not to scale) of the <i>Bos taurus</i> chromosome 6 with the IL-8 gene locus comprising promoter and exons annotated by numbers. The 2 kb IL-8 promoter sequence, comprising the putative TATA box, the transcriptional start site (+1) and the UTR (red underlined) was cloned into the pGL3 basic vector in front of the open reading frame of the Luciferase reporter. <b>B</b>) RT-PCR products of TLRs from 1 to 9 and their corresponding amplicon size. GAPDH was used as an internal control and the amplification performed in the absence of reverse transcriptase (-RT) as a negative control. <b>C</b>) RT-PCR products of TNF-αRI,II and their corresponding amplicon size. GAPDH was used as an internal control and the amplification performed in the absence of reverse transcriptase (-RT) as a negative control. D) IL-8 promoter activation after treatment of bIL-8-Luc transfected LA-4 cells with LPS or TNF-α, along with the untreated control (Untr.). Each experiment was done in quadruplicate, and each point represents the mean ± standard deviation of three experiments. Data were expressed as folds of induction (2,1 and 2,8 for LPS and TNF-α respectively) over vehicle-treated cells and statistical differences were tested by One Way ANOVA followed by Dunnet’s post hoc test for group comparisons. Results are reported as mean ± SD and significance attributed when <i>P</i><0.05 (*) or <i>P</i><0.01(**).