Figure 2. Quantitative PCR data indicate TBX3, TBX5, HDAC6, SIRT1, SIRT6 gene expression is suppressed in the lungs of patients with COPD, while mRNA expression of HDAC2 does not change compared to lung tissue from normal smokers.

The extent of the suppression is highly significant between patients with mild and those with severe COPD. Patient diagnosis was based on the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute/World Health Organization Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) [146]. Fifteen normal, nine mild COPD, and six severe COPD samples were used for this analysis. The data is represented as Mean ± S.D. The data was analyzed using student's t-test for comparing mRNA expression in the respective groups. *represents a significance of p-value<0.01.