Fig. 5

Acute phase proteins cluster to CF fractions 1–4. A Fetuin-A (AHSG) displayed a decreasing trend from fraction 1 to 4 in WT piglets (green), unstimulated (open circles, n = 4) and stimulated airways (filled circles, n = 6) and the downward trend was more pronounced in CF piglets (pink) unstimulated (open circles, n = 3) and stimulated (filled circles, n = 3). B There was more Fetuin-A in unstimulated CF (n = 3, 12 values) than WT piglets (n = 4, 16 values), pooled normalized intensities from fraction 1–4, **P = 0.002, Mann–Whitney test. C In fraction 1, there was more fetuin-A in CF (n = 6) than WT (n = 10) piglets, pooled normalized intensities from unstimulated and stimulated piglets, *P = 0.03, Mann–Whitney test. D There was more fetuin-A in fraction 1 than fraction 5, pooled normalized intensities from unstimulated and stimulated WT and CF piglets (n = 16 in each group), ***P = 0.0003, Mann–Whitney test. E Fetuin-B normalized intensities displayed a similar trend as fetuin-A in unstimulated (open circles, n = 4) and stimulated (filled circles, n = 6) WT piglets (green) and the same trend was observed for samples from CF piglets (pink), unstimulated (open circles, n = 3) and stimulated (filled circles, n = 3) airways. F Levels of fetuin-B were higher in unstimulated CF piglets (n = 3, 12 values) than WT piglets (n = 4, 16 values), ***P = 0.0004, Mann–Whitney test. G Fetuin-B was also higher in all airways (unstimulated and stimulated) from fraction 1–4 (n = 10, 40 values) compared to fraction 5 (n = 10) in WT piglets, ***P = 0.0005, Mann–Whitney test. H The same was observed for CF airway fraction 1–4 (n = 6, 24 values) compared to CF airway fraction 5 (n = 6), ***P = 0.0005, Mann–Whitney test. I The pattern of apolipoprotein A1 normalized intensity in the fractions most closely resembled fetuin-A in WT piglets (green), unstimulated (open circles, n = 4) and stimulated airways (filled circles, n = 6) and the pattern was similar in CF piglets (pink) with a downward trend from fraction 1 to 5, unstimulated (open circles, n = 3) and stimulated tracheas (filled circles, n = 3). J Levels of apolipoprotein A1 were higher in unstimulated CF piglets (n = 12) than WT piglets (n = 16), **P = 0.002, Mann–Whitney test. K Apolipoprotein A1 was also higher in all airways (unstimulated and stimulated) from fraction 1–4 (n = 10, 40 values) compared to fraction 5 (n = 10) in WT piglets, ***P = 0.0008, Mann–Whitney test. L The same was observed for CF fraction 1–4 (n = 6, 24 values) compared to fraction 5 (n = 6), *P = 0.02, Mann–Whitney test. Each data point in A, C, D, E and I represents one piglet and results are presented as median with interquartile range