Disparate oxidant gene expression of airway epithelium compared to alveolar macrophages in smokers

Respiratory Research

Table 1 Study Population for Paired Small Airway Epithelium and Alveolar Macrophage Samples¹

Parameter	Healthy nonsmokers	Healthy smokers
Demographics
n	19	30
Sex (male/female)	15/4	22/8
Age (yr)	42 ± 2	43 ± 1
Race (B/W/H/)²	11/6/2	18/10/2
Smoking history (pack-yr)	0	27 ± 3
Urine nicotine (ng/ml)	Negative	775 ± 176
Urine cotinine (ng/ml)	Negative	969 ± 136
Venous CO-Hb³	0.7 ± 0.2	2.3 ± 0.4
Pulmonary function parameters ⁴
FVC	107 ± 2	110 ± 2
FEV1	100 ± 6	110 ± 2
FEV1/FVC	80 ± 1	82 ± 1
TLC	97 ± 2	100 ± 2
DLCO	94 ± 2	100 ± 2
Small airway epithelium
Total number recovered ×10⁶	5.1 ± 0.4	6.7 ± 0.4
% epithelial	99 ± 1	99 ± 1
% inflammatory	1 ± 1	0
Epithelial cell differential
% ciliated	73 ± 2	76 ± 2
% secretory	9 ± 1	8 ± 1
% basal	13 ± 2	12 ± 1
% undifferentiated	5 ± 1	5 ± 1
Alveolar macrophages
Total number recovered ×10⁶	14 ± 1	32 ± 12
% alveolar macrophages after purification	>97%	>98%

¹ Data are presented as mean ± standard error.
² B = Black W = White H = Hispanic.
³ Venous carboxyhemoglobin, a secondary marker of current smoking; nonsmokers <1.5%.
⁴ FVC = forced vital capacity; FEV1 = forced expiratory volume in first second; DLCO = diffusion capacity for carbon monoxide; all data presented as % predicted except for FEV1/FVC presented as % observed.

ISSN: 1465-993X