Alveolar macrophages obtained from asbestosis patients show indicators of ER stress.
A, alveolar macrophage lysates used for assay of BiP and ATF6 protein expression by immunoblotting. B and C, densitometric analysis of BiP and ATF6 protein expression normalized to β-actin in normal subjects and asbestosis patients. *, p < 0.05 versus normal subjects (n = 3–4/group). D–F, quantitative RT-PCR data showing mRNA of different ER stress genes corrected for hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyltransferase mRNA. *, p < 0.05 versus normal subjects (n = 3/group).