Figure 2.
Bax levels are reduced in neutrophils under inflammatory conditions. (A) Flow cytometry. Freshly purified normal blood neutrophils expressed significant amounts of Bcl-xL and Bax, but no Bcl-2 or Bcl-xS protein. In contrast to normal neutrophils, inflammatory diseases neutrophils (cystic fibrosis and cancer with associated neutrophilia, see also Fig. 6B) expressed little or no detectable Bax protein. (B) The markedly reduced Bax expression in inflammatory diseases neutrophils (cystic fibrosis) was confirmed by immunoblotting. (C) Semiquantitative RT-PCR. Bax protein expression correlates with the expression of Bax mRNA. Inflammatory diseases neutrophils (cystic fibrosis) had markedly reduced Bax mRNA levels. Numbers of PCR cycles are given at the top. Glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (G3PDH) control amplifications were performed demonstrating equal quality of the cDNA preparations derived from blood, BAL, and sputum neutrophils (not presented). Data are representative of at least five independent experiments.