Fig. 5.

Real-time PCR and ELISA for IL-8. HET-1A cells were treated with the selected HCl exposure protocol and then used to determine IL-8 RNA expression by real-time PCR (left) and protein expression by ELISA (middle). Relative mRNA expression was calculated with respect to mRNA from untreated cells. Repeated exposures to pH 5 over 48 h caused a significant increase in mRNA and protein expression for IL-8 (*P < 0.02). Values are means ± SE; n = 3 for 3 different sets of data from 3 separate experiments. Right: real-time PCR for human biopsies from EE patients and normal controls. Increased IL-8 mRNA expression in EE patients parallels increase in HET-1A cells after exposure to HCl.