Fig. 1

Elevated expression of IL-17RA and IL-17RC in end-stage COPD. Bright field micrographs of (a) interleukin (IL)-17 receptor (R)A in never smoker, (b) IL-17RA in COPD, (c) IL-17RC in never smoking non-COPD controls and (d) IL-17RC in COPD. Number of immunopositive cells to (e) interleukin (IL)-17RA and (f) IL-17RC in lung tissue of never smokers, smokers and patients with GOLD I-II or III-IV COPD. Horizontal line indicates mean value. One-way ANOVA and Dunnet’s test (GraphPad Prism 6, GraphPad Software, La Jolla, CA) was used to detect differences between GOLD IV COPD and all other groups. Clear circles: never smokers; grey circles: asymptomatic smokers, triangles (up): GOLD I COPD; triangles (down): GOLD II COPD; squares: GOLD III; diamonds: GOLD IV COPD. n = 7-18. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, *p < 0.001 compared to GOLD IV COPD. Co-immunohistochemical staining for (g-k) interleukin (IL)-17RA and (l-p) IL-17RC (DAB, brown) and cellular markers (Vina green, blue-green). Sections were counterstained with Mayer’s Hematoxylin. Arrows in indicate double positive cells. Scale bar: 100 μm. Expression of (q) FGF-2, and (r) VEGF in cell supernatant of stem cell-derived mast cells stimulated with 1000 ng/ml IL-17A 8 hours. Experiments were performed in triplicates and repeated twice. Bars indicate mean value, errorbars indicate SEM. n = 5. *p < 0.05. Light micrograph of (s) fibroblast growth factor (FGF)-2 (DAB; brown) and (t) vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) (DAB; brown) in GOLD IV COPD. Immunoreactivity was detected by DAB (brown) and sections were counterstained with Mayer’s Hematoxylin (blue). Mast cells were identified by immunodetection of tryptase (Vena green; green-blue). Arrows indicate FGF-2 and VEGF positive mast cells. Scale bar indicates 100 μm