Fig. 1.

Expression of HOTAIR is specifically up-regulated in COPD patient lungs and CSE-induced HPVEC. a Hierarchical clustering showed the differential expression of HOTAIR in COPD (red bar) and non-COPD (blue bar) lung tissues. The expression was displayed on a scale from light (low) to deep (high). b Expression of HOTAIR in patient lungs from normal (nonsmokers) (n = 4), non-COPD smokers (n = 4) and COPD smokers (n = 5) was determined by qRT-PCR. β-actin was used as a reference gene. c Expression of HOTAIR in HPVEC (n = 3) and CSE-induced HPVEC (n = 3) was determined by qRT-PCR. β-actin was used as a reference gene. d Surface labeling of human pulmonary vascular endothelial cells was determined by Recombinant Von Willebrand Factor (VWF) and visualized by fluorescence microscopy. Scale bar = 25 μm. e Expression of HOTAIR in HPVEC was determined by RNA in situ hybridization (RNA-ISH) and visualized by fluorescence microscopy. Scale bar = 25 μm