Fig. 4From: Proteases and oxidant stress control organic dust induction of inflammatory gene expression in lung epithelial cellsEffects of protease inhibitors on the induction of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) mRNA levels. a–d Beas2B cells (a–d) were treated with medium (C), dust extract (DE) (0.25 %), α1-antitrypsin (10 ug/ml) (α1-AT) alone, soybean trypsin inhibitor (10 μg/ml) (SBTI) alone or dust extract in the presence of α1-antitrypsin (10 μg/ml) or soybean trypsin inhibitor (10 μg/ml) for 3 h. SAE cells (e) were treated similarly with SBTI (10 ug/ml) and levels of MMP mRNAs were determined by qRT-PCR. The levels of each mRNA in control cells were arbitrarily considered as 100 and relative levels in other treatments are shown. Data shown for Beas2B cells are means ± SE (n = 3–4) for C, DE, α1-AT + DE samples and means ± SD (n = 2) for α1-AT, SBTI, SBTI + DE and for SAE cells are means ± SE (n = 3). *P < 0.05Back to article page