Fig. 1From: AGER expression and alternative splicing in bronchial biopsies of smokers and never smokersSmokers show lower AGER expression and increased esRAGE expression. a Patient characteristics of 37 active smokers and 40 never smokers used for all experiments in this study. BMIā=ābody mass index as kg/m2, Packyearsā=ānumber of years smoking one pack of 20 cigarettes per day, FVCā=āForced vital capacity, FEV1ā=āForced expiratory volume in one second. Data is shown as meanāĀ±āSEM. b AGER mRNA expression was measured in lung tissue obtained from bronchial biopsy material in smokers and never smokers without airway obstruction. Gene expression expressed as Fragments Per Kilobase Million (fpmk). c Graphical representation of the AGER exon structure and sequences spanning the exon-exon junctions (split reads). d Percentage of expression of split reads compared to total split read count per patient for all exon-exon junctions and alternative splicing sites. e Percentage of expression of split reads compared to total split read count per patient for esRAGE. All data is shown as individual measurements and meanāĀ±āSEM. Significance was tested using a Mann Whitney-U test,* pāā¤ā0.05, ** pā<ā0.01Back to article page