Fig. 3.

Canonical WNT pathway is upregulated in situ in laser-microdissected COPD airway epithelium

a) Illustrative pictures of the microdissection of the airway epithelium. The upper picture shows the manually delineated epithelium (red line), while the lower picture shows the slide after laser microdissection.

b) Expression of key genes of the WNT/β-catenin pathway (AXIN2, CTNNB1, TCF7L2, SOX4, and FZD7) was increased in laser-microdissected epithelium from very severe COPD patients as compared with that of non-smoker controls. Concordantly, upward trends were found for MMP2 and MMP7.

* indicates p-values of less than 0•05 (analysed using the Mann-Whitney test). Bars indicate median ± interquartile range. COPD, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; CT, controls; ns, not significant. Scale bar, 100 µm.