Table 1.
Characteristics of subjects and experimental design
| Culture condition | Age (years) | Sex | Smoking status | Pack years | FEV1%pred | FEV1/FVC% | N (RNA) | N (DNA) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ALI with IL-13a | COPD 1 | 56 | M | Ex | 30 | 31 | 29 | 5 | 5 |
| COPD 2 | 59 | F | Ex | 41 | 87 | 59 | |||
| COPD 3 | 60 | F | Ex | 20 | 33 | 38 | |||
| COPD 4 | 56 | F | Ex | 30 | 14 | 25 | |||
| COPD 5 | 61 | F | Ex | 26 | 21 | 28 | |||
| Non-COPD controls 1–6 | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | 6 | 6 | |
| ALI without IL-13b | COPD 6 | 58 | F | Ex | 40 | 18 | 25 | 7 | 8 |
| COPD 7 | 61 | F | Ex | 35 | 20 | 25 | |||
| COPD 8 | 55 | F | Ex | 18 | 19 | 52 | |||
| COPD 9 | 49 | M | Ex | 11 | 20 | 22 | |||
| COPD 10 | 60 | M | Ex | 38 | 16 | 29 | |||
| COPD 11 | 48 | M | Ex | 25 | 12 | 23 | |||
| COPD 12 | 58 | F | Ex | 38 | 60 | 46 | |||
| COPD 13 | 63 | M | Non | 0 | 41 | 45 | |||
| COPD 14 | 53 | M | Ex | 30 | 25 | 25 | |||
| COPD 15 | 57 | M | Ex | 30 | 11 | 31 | |||
| COPD 16 | 57 | F | Ex | 45 | 23 | 24 | |||
| Non-COPD controls 11–17 | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | 7 | 7 |
Abbreviations: COPD chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, M male, F female, Ex ex-smoker, Non non-smoker, NA not available, FEV1%pred forced expiratory volume during the first second as percentage of predicted, FEV1/FVC% the ratio of FEV1 to FVC (forced vital capacity), ALI air-liquid interface culture, IL-13 interleukin 13, N (RNA) number of RNA samples in total, N (DNA) number of DNA samples in total
aCells were cultured at ALI in the presence of IL-13 and harvested after 0, 14, 21 and 28 days
bCells were cultured at ALI without IL-13 and harvested after 14 days