Fig. 5
Correlations between A Disintegrin and A Metalloproteinase Domain 15 (ADAM15-positively stained) alveolar macrophages (AMs), CD8+ T cells, bronchial epithelial cells, alveolar epithelial cells, or α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMC)-positive airway cells and lung function or other clinical parameters. Lung sections from 31 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), CD8+ T cells (CD8), bronchial and alveolar epithelial cells (pancytokeratin), and α-SMC-positive small airway cells (likely myofibroblasts). The percentage of ADAM15-positively stained macrophages or CD8+ T cells in 10 microscopic fields, or the number of ADAM15-positively stained α-SMC-positive airway cells per unit area of airway wall, the number of ADAM15-positively stained bronchial epithelial cells per unit area of bronchial epithelium, or the number of ADAM15-positively stained alveolar epithelial cells per unit area of alveolar wall for each subject (on the y-axis) was quantified (as described in the legend to Fig. 3) and plotted against the subject’s pack-years of smoking history, FEV1, or FEV1/FVC (on the x-axis). a-d: show the correlations between the percentage of ADAM15-positively stained AMs (a; n = 50 subjects), the percentage of ADAM15-positively stained CD8+ T cells (b; n = 50 subjects), the number of ADAM15-positively stained bronchial epithelial cells per unit area of bronchial epithelium (c; n = 50 subjects), the number of ADAM15-positively stained α-SMC-positive airway cells per unit area of airway wall (d; n = 50 subjects) and pack-years of smoking history. e shows the correlation between the number of ADAM15-positively stained α-SMC-positive airway cells per unit area of airway wall and FEV1 percent predicted (n = 49 subjects including 10 non-smokers, 8 smokers and 31 patients with COPD). f-h: show the correlation between the number of ADAM15-positively stained alveolar epithelial cells per unit area of alveolar wall and FEV1 percent predicted (f; n = 49 subjects including 10 non-smokers, 9 smokers and 30 patients with COPD), FEV1/FVC percent predicted (g; n = 49 subjects including 10 non-smokers, 9 smokers and 30 patients with COPD) and pack-years of smoking history (h; n = 50 subjects). All data were analyzed using the Spearman Correlation test. P < 0.05 was considered to be statistically significant