Fig. 3
A Disintegrin and A Metalloproteinase Domain 15 (ADAM15) staining is increased in alveolar macrophages (AMs), CD8+ T cells, epithelial cells and α-SMC-positive cells in the lungs of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Lung sections from 30 patients with COPD (4 had GOLD stage I, 10 had GOLD stage II, 4 had GOLD stage III, and 13 had GOLD stage IV disease), 10 smokers, and 10 non-smokers were double immunostained for ADAM15 and markers of macrophages (CD68; a), CD8+ T cells (CD8; b), airway cells staining positively for α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA, a marker of myofibroblasts; c), bronchial epithelial cells (pancytokeratin; d) and alveolar epithelial cells (pancytokeratin; e). Lung sections that were stained with non-immune isotype-matched primary antibodies showed no staining (not shown). The percentage of ADAM15-positively stained macrophages and CD8+ T cells was quantified for each cell type for each subject in 10 microscopic fields. The number of ADAM15-positively stained airway α-SMA-positive cells (c) and bronchial epithelial cells (d) and alveolar epithelial cells (e) was quantified and normalized to the unit area (in pixels2) of airway wall (C), of bronchial epithelium (d) or of alveolar wall (e) using MetaMorph software. Data in a and b are mean + SD (n = 10–17 subjects/group). Data were analyzed using one-way ANOVA followed by pair-wise testing with 2 tailed Student’s t-tests. *, P < 0.003 versus non-smoker control or the group indicated. In c-e, the boxes in the box-plots show the medians and 25th and 75th percentiles, and the whiskers show the 10th and 90th percentiles for 10–17 subjects/group. Data were analyzed using a Kruskal-Wallis One-Way ANOVA followed by pair-wise testing with Mann-Whitney U tests. *, P < 0.015 versus non-smoker control or the group indicated