Figure 5

mRNA expression and the immunoreactivity of tenascin-C in the lungs of STAT4-/- and STAT6 -/- mice. (A) The relative mRNA expression of tenascin-C in the lungs of the control (n = 8 mice/group) and OVA-challenged (n = 7 mice/group) STAT4-/- and STAT6-/- mice. RU = relative expression unit. Results are expressed as mean ± SEM. B-E. Immunohistochemical staining of tenascin-C in frozen lung sections. PBS-challenged STAT4-/- (B) and STAT6-/- (C) mice had no tenascin-C immunoreactivity in the lung parenchyma. Lung sections from the OVA-challenged STAT4-/- mice (D) were only weakly tenascin-C immunoreactive, while OVA challenge strongly enhanced tenascin-C immunoreactivity in STAT6-/- mice (E). F. The semi-quantitative analysis of tenascin-C immunoreactivity in frozen sections. All the PBS-challenged controls were graded negative. OVA-challenged WT mice showed the most intensive expression of tenascin-C, although no significant difference was found in comparison with OVA-challenged STAT6-/- mice. In contrast, STAT4-/- mice exhibited a lower intensity of tenascin-C immunoreactivity than STAT6-/- and WT mice. 0 = no staining, 4 = very strong staining. n = 10 WT OVA; n = 9 WT PBS, STAT4-/- OVA; n = 8 STAT4-/- PBS, STAT6-/-PBS, STAT6-/- OVA. Circles represent the mean and the bars indicate the SEM. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, *** p < 0.001.