Novel methylxanthine derivative-mediated anti-inflammatory effects in inflammatory bowel disease

Figure 3 Caffeine, pentoxifylline and theophylline inhibit β-catenin nuclear translocation with different degrees. SW480 colonic epithelial cells were cultured on lab-tec chamber slide. After reached to 90% confluency, the cells were stimulated with or without purified human chitinase 3-like 1 (CHI3L1) (80 ng/mL) in combination with caffeine (CAF) (5 mmol/L), pentoxifylline (PTX) (100 mmol/L) or theophylline (THEO) (100 mmol/L) for 24 h. Human CHI3L1 protein was purchased from Quidel (San Diego, CA). β-catenin was then detected using mouse anti-human β-catenin monoclonal primary Ab (BD Biosciences, CA) and FITC-horse anti-mouse Immunoglobulin G (Vector Labs, Burlingame, CA) and analyzed by confocal microscope (magnification, objective 40 ×). White arrows show the limited numbers of completely nuclear translocated β-catenin positive cells after caffeine treatment.