Effects of 17beta-estradiol on the expression of IL-6, IL-11 and NF-kappaB in human MG-63 osteoblast-like cell line.

In order to characterize the effects of 17beta-estradiol (17beta-E2) on the expression of IL-6, IL-11 and NF-kappaB in the human MG-63 osteoblast-like cell line, the expression of IL-6 was detected by RT-PCR, Northern blot and Western blot. The expression of IL-11 was determined by RT-PCR, and NF-kappaB by Western blot. The results showed that 17beta-E2 down-regulated the expression of IL-6 mRNA and protein, IL-11 mRNA and NF-kappaB protein in MG-63 cells. It was suggested that the expression of NF-kappaB, IL-6 and IL-11 in MG-63 cells could be suppressed by 17beta-E2, and this might lend support to estrogen replacement therapy in postmenopausal women.