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. 2022 Aug 25;2022:3096528. doi: 10.1155/2022/3096528

Figure 4.

Figure 4

Detection of bronchial epithelial cells (BECs), measurement of IL-4 and IL-17 from BECs supernatant, and differentiation of Th2 and Th17 cells from BECs T cell coculture under DHT, E2, and DHT/E2 influence. (a) Immunofluorescence detection of a positive rate of cytokeratin, an epithelial marker, in BECs. (b) ELISA measurement of IL-4 and IL-17 from BECs supernatant. A higher level of IL-17 in severe asthma was observed than in asthma and the normal control group. The severe asthma+E2 group showed increased IL-17 expression possibly as a causative agent in severe asthma while DHT in severe asthma+ DHT reduced the IL-17 expression than severe asthma, severe asthma + E2, and severe asthma + DHT/E2 group with statistical significance. (c) After the detection of BECs from (a), we stimulated BECs with 100 μg/ml house dust mite (HDM) as asthma, 100 μg/ml HDM+100 ng/ml lipopolysaccharide (LPS) as severe asthma, or saline as a normal control for 24 h, DHT, E2, and DHT/E2 added in a designated group for 24 h, cocultured with CD4+ T cells for 24 h, and finally Th2 and Th17 cells were detected by flow cytometry. Percentage of Th2 and Th17 cells is also shown from different groups. (∗p < 0.05; ns: not significant).