Fig. 5

Effects of artesunate on PI3K/Akt/RSK2 pathway in primary RA-FLS. a Effects of artesunate (0–60 μM) on the expression of PIP2, PIP3, PI3K, p-PI3K, PDK-1, Akt, p-Akt, RSK2, and p-RSK2 were measured by Western blot. b Effects of AR-12 (5 μM) or si-PDK-1 on the expression of PDK-1, Akt, p-Akt, RSK, and p-RSK in primary RA-FLS were measured by Western blot. c Effects of AR-12 (5 μM) or si-PDK-1 on the expression of MMP-2, MMP-9, TIMP-1, and TIMP-2 in primary RA-FLS were measured by Western blot (c), qPCR (d), and ELISA (e). f–h After treatment with AR-12 (5 μM) or si-PDK-1, wound healing and transwell assays showed the capacity of horizontal migration (f), vertical migration (g), and invasion (h) of primary RA-FLS. Each bar represents mean ± SD from 6 RA patients. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001, compared with RA-FLS without treatment or si-NC group