A. IL-6 activity is significantly greater in the CF patients than in the asthmatic and non-asthmatic control populations (p<0.001) with a mean value of 65.6 ± 6.3 pg/ml. In the asthmatic patients, mean IL-6 was 17.8 ± 6.1 pg/ml, significantly greater than in the non-asthmatic control population (p<0.001)
B. When ARSB was silenced by siRNA in bronchial epithelial cells in cell culture, marked increase in the IL-6 secreted into the spent media was observed (p<0.001, one-way ANOVA with Tukey-Kramer post-test), consistent with the observed increases in IL-6 in (A) when ARSB activity is less.