Fig. 8

mRNA expression of EMT-related transcription factors in HBE cells after 3-day treatment with CM from HLF. HBE cells from normal subjects (N) or COPD patients (D) were stimulated with or without 100 % CM collected from human lung fibroblasts of N or D for 3 days and total RNA was extracted. The mRNA expressions of EMT-related transcription factors were determined by real-time RT-PCR and normalized to GAPDH mRNA expression in the same origin of HBE cells. (a) Snail, (b) Slug, (c) Twist1, (d) Twist2, and (e) Zeb1 were calculated. Data were analysed and expressed as mean (SE) of from six to nine independent experiments by one-way ANOVA with Tukey’s multiple comparison test, *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, compared between the indicated groups