Figures
- FIGURE 1
a) A violin plot of ACE-2 expression in small airways of COPD and non-COPD subjects in the St. Paul's Hospital Cohort. The red box indicates the median and the interquartile range. The P-value was obtained from the robust linear model. Abbreviations: ACE-2: angiotensin converting enzyme II; COPD: chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; CPM: counts per million reads. b) A scatter plot of ACE-2 expression in small airways according to FEV1% Predicted in the St. Paul's Hospital Cohort. Abbreviations: ACE-2: angiotensin converting enzyme II; COPD: chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; CPM: counts per million reads. ACE-2 gene expression in airway epithelia is inversely related to FEV1% predicted (p=0.0348). c) A violin plot of ACE2 expression in small airways of never, former and current smokers in the St. Paul's Hospital Cohort. The red box indicates the median and the interquartile range. The P-value was obtained from the robust linear model. Abbreviations: ACE-2: angiotensin converting enzyme II; CPM: counts per million reads. d) Protein staining of ACE2 in airways of Individuals with and without COPD. Human kidney slide was the positive control for ACE-2. The specificity of the antibody against ACE-2 was determined using an immunoblot assay with HEK2 cell lysates as a positive control. The expected molecular weight of ACE-2 is 90–100 kDa. In airways, most of the protein expression was noted in the epithelial layer, most pronounced in those with COPD. Abbreviations: ACE-2: angiotensin converting enzyme II; NHBE: normal human bronchial epithelial cells; NS: non-smoker.
