Table 2. Binding and penetrating activities of synthetic peptides in Beas-2B cells.

Peptide	Binding (%)a	Penetrating (%)b
ECP32–41	100	100
EDN32–41	19.4±0.05***	17.0±4.24***
ECP32–41R3Q	87.2±0.40	70.6±3.30*
ECP32–41W4R	549.9±1.00***	32.3±6.55**
ECP33–41	54.7±3.37*	48.2±2.48*
ECP33–40	72.4±4.68*	70.8±4.97*
ECP34–41	39.3±2.76**	34.3±2.41**
ECP32–40	90.7±7.79	82.0±9.42
ECP32–39	82.6±3.20	35.0±6.98**
ECP32–38	86.6±3.75	28.7±6.24**

X: amino-n-butyric acid. ND: not determined. The result is expressed as the mean ± S.D., n = 4.

^*** P<0.001;

^** P<0.01;

^* P<0.05.

^aBeas-2B cells were incubated with 5 µM FITC-peptides at 4°C for 1 h, washed twice with PBS, and subjected to ELISA. The amount of FITC-ECP^32–41 bound to Beas-2B cells was normalized to 100%.

^bBeas-2B cells were incubated with 5 µM FITC-peptides at 37°C for 1 h. The cells were washed twice with 500 µl PBS, trypsinized at 37°C for 15 min, suspended in 500 µl PBS, and then subjected to flow cytometry. The fluorescence of cells treated with ECP^32–41 was set as 100%.