Figure 2.

Impaired nuclear translocation of glucocorticoid receptor (GR) in airway smooth muscle cells (ASMC) of patients with severe asthma. (A) Nuclear GR expression at baseline. After serum starvation for 24 hours, GR and TATA-box binding protein (TBP) in nuclear extracts from ASMC of healthy subjects (H) and patients with nonsevere (NSA) and severe asthma (SA) were measured in duplicate along with a standard (STD) protein by Western blot followed by densitometric analysis; representative blot is shown. Horizontal lines represent median. (B) Dexamethasone-induced nuclear translocation of GR. ASMC of healthy subjects (circles, n = 8) and patients with nonsevere (squares, n = 8) and severe asthma (triangles, n = 8) were treated with dexamethasone (10⁻⁷ M) for times indicated. GR and TBP in the nuclear extracts, as well as a standard (STD) protein, were assessed by Western blot followed by densitometric analysis. Points represent mean ± SEM. *P < 0.05 versus healthy subjects. ^#P < 0.05, ^##P < 0.01 versus patients with nonsevere asthma. US = unstimulated.