Figure 6

Association of functional markers with squamous metaplasia in distal airways. Antibodies against CC10 (A), p-p38 (B) and SP-D (C) were used to assess the effect of squamous metaplasia on epithelial cell functional markers. Within distal airways, there were areas of squamous metaplasia (arrow) contiguous with areas of non-squamous epithelial cells (arrowhead). CC10 (A) was lost from areas of squamous metaplasia (A, arrow), including the proximal airways (inset) but not from other areas of non-squamous airways (A, arrowhead). p-p38 (B, distal airway) was detected in all epithelial cells regardless of cell type including squamous metaplasia in the proximal airways (inset). SP-D (C) was lost from squamous regions in distal (C, arrow) and proximal airways (C, inset). In areas of non-squamous epithelium in the distal airways, epithelial cells were seen to stain positive (C, arrowhead).