FIGURE 5.

The effects of pHrodo non‐typeable Haemophilus influenzae (NTHi) exposure on CD16 expression by sputum neutrophils. Sputum cells from 14 chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients, 8 healthy smokers (HS) and 9 healthy never‐smokers (HNS) were either unexposed or exposed with pHrodo NTHi bacteria for 30 min and 3 h. Cells were then harvested and stained with CD45, CD66b and CD16 and the data acquired using the BD Canto II flow cytometer. CD45⁺CD66b⁺ cells were gated (a) and the percentage (b,c) and mean fluorescence intensity (MFI) (d,e) of CD16 analysed by FlowJo. Data are presented as mean ± standard error of the mean (SEM). Statistical significance is shown above corresponding bars (t‐test). Significance between unexposed and NTHi exposed (*p < 0.05, **p < 0.01 and ***p < 0.001, respectively)