Fig. 1

USP13 expression levels in IPF lung tissues. a Gene expression profiles of fibrotic lung tissue from IPF patients (n = 5) and of normal lung tissues from primary spontaneous pneumothorax patients (n = 3). Red areas indicate increased gene expression relative to the mean of all samples, and green areas indicate decreased gene expression. Each column represents one patient, and each row represents one gene. b Graph of USP13 mRNA levels in representative samples. USP13 mRNA expression levels of representative samples were verified by real-time RT-PCR. β-actin was used as a control. c USP13 expression in IPF lung tissue fibroblastic foci. Representative serial lung sections from one patient with IPF and one normal control were stained for H&E (a, b, c) and USP13 (d, e, f). A fibrotic focus is indicated with a black box in (b) and (e). High magnification of the boxed region in (c) and (f). (a, b, d, e) original magnification × 100; (c, f) original magnification × 400. d Relative intensity analysis of USP13 staining in IPF lung tissue fibroblastic foci (n = 13) and normal control (n = 5). The quantitative data were expressed as the ratio of stained areas in myofibroblasts within FF (IPF) or mesenchymal cells (Normal) to the overlying epithelial cells. Staining intensity was represented by the percentage of positive-staining cells in the indicated tissues. Error bars indicate the mean ± SEM. *p <0.05, ***p <0.001