TY - JOUR T1 - Airway smooth muscle cells from patients with COPD exhibit a higher degree of cellular proliferation and steroid insensitivity than that from healthy patients JF - European Respiratory Journal JO - Eur Respir J VL - 38 IS - Suppl 55 SP - p748 AU - Mark Perry AU - Josie Baker AU - Kian Fan Chung Y1 - 2011/09/01 UR - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/38/Suppl_55/p748.abstract N2 - Rationale: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) refers to chronic bronchitis and emphysema, a pair of two commonly co-existing diseases of the lungs in which the airways become narrowed. The potential contribution of airway smooth muscle to airflow obstruction, airway inflammation and airway remodeling in COPD isn't fully understood. Indeed, although it is known that the cytokine TGF-β induces the expression of such cytokines as IL-6 and IL-8, little is known regarding its role upon ASM proliferation and steroid insensitivity in COPD. Ergo, we have examined the role of both the growth factor FCS and TGF-β, upon ASM proliferation and steroid response following treatment with dexamethasone.Methods: Human ASM cells were pre-treated with dexamethasone for 2 h before being stimulated with FCS ± TGF-β for 8 days. For the determination of chemokine release, supernatants were removed and IL-6 levels determined by DuoSet ELISA (R&D Systems). The degree of cell proliferation was assessed by Cell Proliferation ELISA, BrdU kit (Roche Applied Science) according to the manufacturer's instructions.Results: Exposure to FCS and TGF-β induced a higher increase in cellular proliferation and IL-6 release in ASM from patients with COPD compared to healthy individuals. Furthermore, the inhibitory effect of dexamethasone in this system was almost completely ablated in the ASM cells from the COPD patients. ER -