Background This study was designed to investigate the effect of glucose 6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) deficiency on pro-inflammatory cytokine secretion using a palmitate-induced inflammation HepG2 in vitro model. significantly improved in G6PD-knockdown HepG2 cells. The up-regulation of IL-8 caused by G6PD deficiency in HepG2 cells was confirmed in additional G6PD-deficient cells by qRT-PCR. The partial reduction of G6PD deficiency-derived IL-8 due to GPX and NF-B blockers indicated that G6PD deficiency up-regulates pro-inflammatory cytokine IL-8 through oxidative stress and NF-B pathway. Findings G6PD deficiency predisposes cells to enhanced production of pro-inflammatory cytokine IL-8. Mechanistically, G6PD deficiency up-regulates IL-8 through oxidative stress and NF-B pathway. The palmitate-induced swelling in G6PD-deficient HepG2 cells could serve as an in vitro model to study the part of modified redox homeostasis in chronic hepatic swelling. Electronic extra material The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12950-015-0078-z) contains HC-030031 IC50 supplementary material, which is usually available to authorized users. launch in HepG2 cells as early as 6?hours after treatment [62]. In our experimental condition, IL-8 secretion by short term palmitate-treated HepG2 cells is definitely too low to become recognized, whereas significantly improved IL-8 mRNA level in palmitate-treated HepG2 cells can become recognized at 6?hours. Hence, we identified the effect of curcumin on IL-8 level in palmitate-treated HepG2 cells at 6? hours by qRT-PCR instead of ELISA. The inactivation of NF-B is definitely a well-established mechanism of curcumin explained in the books [55,57,63,64]. HC-030031 IC50 It offers HC-030031 IC50 been demonstrated that curcumin suppresses the phosphorylation of IB (nuclear element of kappa light polypeptide gene enhancer in B-cells inhibitor, alpha dog) through inactivation of IKK (IkappaB kinase) activity [65]. Moreover, curcumin down-regulates the manifestation of pro-inflammatory gene products controlled by HC-030031 IC50 NF-B, including IL-8, through inhibiting IKK activity in intestinal epithelial cells [66]. A recent study in sepsis-induced acute lung injury HC-030031 IC50 rodents shows that curcumin significantly enhances SOD activity and reduces lipid peroxidation in the lung [51]. Furthermore, curcumin down-regulates inflammatory cytokines TNF-, IL-8 and MIF levels in the lung, suggesting a protecting part in counteracting swelling through down-regulation of pro-inflammatory cytokines and oxidative stress. Given that curcumin exerts its inhibitory actions through multiple focuses on, it is definitely sensible to speculate that curcumin may take action as a non-specific anti-inflammatory agent in our study. Such speculation may justify its superior IL-8 inhibition capacity compared with GPX and NF-B inhibitor in this study. Several reports suggest that G6PD deficiency modulates cytokine response during inflammatory and immune system reactions. In G6PD mutant endotoxemic mice, modified cytokines, including elevated blood IL-6 level, offers been recorded [67,68]. Clinical studies possess indicated that G6PD deficiency correlates with improved incidence of sepsis [69,70]. Moreover, reduced IL-10 and IFN- and improved IL-6 are present in African and Mediterranean forms of G6PD-deficient stress individuals [71]. Similarly, reduced monocyte IL-10 in G6PD-deficient stress individuals offers been recorded [72]. In contrast to the findings in G6PD-deficient adults, a more recent study offers reported that the toll-like receptor (TLR) agonists-induced cytokine response in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) separated from G6PD-deficient babies, including TNF-, IL-6 and IL-10, is definitely not different from PBMCs of G6PD normal subjects [73]. The difference between G6PD-deficient Cdh5 adults and babies may rest in the comparative immature innate immune system response during infancy [74,75]. Additionally, the age of the subjects may also contribute to the disparity, because G6PD activity offers been suggested to become inversely proportional to age [76]. Summary We have found that the secretion of pro-inflammatory cytokine IL-8 is definitely most significantly improved in G6PD-deficient HepG2 cells by utilizing a cytokine array. Adopting a palmitate-induced swelling HepG2 cell model, we have found that G6PD deficiency exacerbates pro-inflammatory cytokine IL-8 secretion in HepG2 cells. Mechanistically, G6PD deficiency up-regulates IL-8 through oxidative stress and NF-B pathway. The palmitate-induced swelling in G6PD-deficient HepG2 cells could serve.