Gene expression profiles of alveolar type II cells of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: a case-control study

Objectives: The aim of this study was to identify the gene expression pattern specific in alveolar epithelial type II cells (ATII cells) isolated from patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Design: Case control Setting: Two hospitals in Japan Participants: Three patients without COPD and three patients with COPD in microarray analyses. Five smokers without COPD and nine smokers with COPD in the following analyses. Primary and secondary outcome measured: Primary outcome included identification of differentially expressed genes and activated or inhibited pathways in ATII cells of the patients with COPD, compared to those of the patients without COPD, using Affymetrix gene expression arrays. Secondary outcome included validation of the results of microarray analyses by quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction. Results: We isolated ATII cells from COPD and non-COPD lungs using fluorescence-activated cell sorting. We performed Affymetrix gene expressi...