Figure 2

(A) Proportion of sputum macrophages in controls and smokers. Shown are purified macrophages from induced sputum samples of a control donor (left plot) and a healthy smoker (right plot) in a forward versus side scatter analysis after staining with CD66b/CD16b/CD14. The percentage of small sputum macrophages in the control is 7% and 57.8% in the smoker. Shown is one example of four. The average percentage of small sputum macrophages in the two cohorts was 12.9% ± 7.2% in controls and 59.8% ± 15% in smokers (P< 0.02). (B) Chemokine mRNA expression in controls and healthy smokers. Purified sputum macrophages (>90%) from controls (left bar in each plot) and smokers (right bar) were analyzed by RT-PCR for mRNA expression for CCL2, CCL7, CCL13 and CCL22. Shown is the relative fold difference in expression of COPD patients as compared with controls that have been set as one. Values have been normalized to the expression of the house keeping gene α-enolase. Results are in fold difference 6.25 ± 3.6 for CCL2, 2.5 ± 1.5 for CCL7, 31.4 ± 24 for CCL13 and 23.3 ± 13.3 for CCL22. Shown are the mean values of 8 controls and 4 smokers. **P< 0.01, ***P< 0.001.