Figure 2.

Increased mast cell signature and SCF expression in IPF lung. (A) Increased expression of mRNA encoding three MC protease genes and (B) SCF in lung of patients with IPF undergoing lung volume reduction surgery or lung transplantation (n=10) compared with normal lung tissue samples (n=9). CPA3, TPSB2 and TPSAB1 were among the strongest differentially expressed transcripts using a moderated t-test and Benjimini-Hochberg correction for multiple comparisons. These three genes comprise a MC signature. A signature score was calculated for each patient by summation of the fRMA normalised expression value reported by the microarray for each gene in the signature. The median and IQR for each group is plotted and groups were compared by Mann-Whitney U test. IPF, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis; MC, mast cell; SCF, stem cell factor.