Fig. 1

Impact of OxLDL immunization on circulating and pulmonary levels of anti-OxLDL antibodies and its interaction with cigarette smoke exposure. Six to eight weeks old female BALB/c mice (n = 5/group) were subjected to (a) PBS:Addavax or OxLDL:Addavax immunization on day 1, 15 and 29, and euthanized on day 40. Anti-OxLDL antibodies were measured by direct ELISA in (b) serum (dilution 1:3 × 10⁶) and (c) bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) (dilution 1:10 [5]). d Mice (n = 5/group) were injected with PBS alone or immunized against OxLDL (OxLDL:Addavax) and exposed to room air or cigarette smoke for 2 weeks. Anti-OxLDL antibodies were measured by direct ELISA in (e) the serum and (f) BALF. g Mice (n = 5/group) were injected with PBS alone or immunized against OxLDL (OxLDL:Addavax) and exposed to room air or cigarette smoke for 8 weeks. Anti-OxLDL antibodies were measured by direct ELISA in (h) the serum and (i) BALF. One-way ANOVA followed by Tukey’s multiple comparison tests *p < 0.05; ***p < 0.001; NS = not significantly different after two-sided Student T test