TABLE 2

Summary of biopsy immunopathology results

	Group
	SAn	SAs/ex	MMA	HC
Subjects	46	16	34	41
Samples analysed for each biopsy parameter
Submucosa	46	16	34	41
ASM	39	13	31	37
Epithelium	37	16	31	28
Lamina reticularis	37	14	30	28
ASM fraction	45	16	33	39
Mast cells
Submucosa mm^−2¶,§,ƒ	17.4 (8.7–27.1)	22.2 (1.1–35.8)	21.2 (16.3–34.1)	33.6 (25.9–43.3)
ASM mm⁻²	5.3 (0–13.8)	10.3 (0.8–16.7)	9.6 (3.7–26.4)	14.3 (2.6–22.3)
Epithelium mm⁻¹	0 (0–1.9)	0 (0–0.4)	0 (0–2.3)	0 (0–1.6)
Eosinophils
Submucosa mm⁻²	3.4 (1.1–7.6)	2.1 (0.8–5.0)	2.1 (0.6–5.6)	2.1 (0.6–4.9)
Neutrophils
Submucosa mm⁻²	12.2 (4.8–20.7)	13.6 (8.7–18.6)	11.0 (6.7–14.1)	13.2 (6.3–22.1)
Epithelium mm⁻¹	0.3 (0–2.4)	0.5 (0–1.2)	0 (0–1.0)	0 (0–1.4)
Macrophages
Submucosa mm⁻²	2.2 (1.1–5.3)	2.1 (0.7–3.8)	3.0 (0.9–4.4)	2.2 (1.1–4.26)
CD3⁺ lymphocytes
Submucosa mm⁻²	35.8 (22.4–45.3)	20.6 (13.0–35.5)	35.9 (22.2–50.9)	36.8 (24.7–70.2)
Epithelium mm⁻¹	1.5 (0–5.9)	2.2 (1.1–7.8)	1.7 (0–7.3)	2.9 (1.4–7.8)
CD4⁺ lymphocytes
Submucosa mm^−2#,+,§	11.6 (5.1–18.8)	4.7 (2.9–6.9)	10.1 (4.0–19.1)	10.6 (7.6–22.3)
CD8⁺ lymphocytes
Submucosa mm⁻²	15.9 (5.3–30.0)	12.7 (5.2–21.4)	14.6 (7.1–26.4)	21.0 (11.8–37.8)
Epithelium mm⁻¹	0.3 (0–2.6)	1.3 (0.9–4.8)	0.45 (0–3.8)	1.95 (0.6–4.5)
Lamina reticularis thickness μm	8.9 (7.3–10.2)	8.7 (7.9–9.9)	9.0 (7.7–9.7)	8.8 (8.0–9.2)
ASM volume fraction	0.3 (0.2–0.4)	0.3 (0.2–0.4)	0.3 (0.3–0.5)	0.3 (0.2–0.4)

Data are presented as n or median (interquartile range). Zero data is not shown. SAn: severe asthma nonsmokers; SAs/ex: severe asthma current/ex-smokers; MMA: mild–moderate asthma; HC: healthy controls; ASM: airway smooth muscle. Differences (p<0.05) are indicated as: ^#: SAn versus SAs/ex; ^¶: SAn versus HC; ⁺: SAs/ex versus MMA; ^§: SAs/ex versus HC; ^ƒ: MMA versus HC.