Systemic inflammatory response to smoking in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: evidence of a gender effect

We analyzed total leukocyte gene expression using Affymetrix microarrays from healthy smokers, COPD patients and non-smoking control subjects before and after exposure to acute cigarette smoke (smoking two cigarettes in 30 minutes). We analysed the gene expression profile of total leukocytes obtained from healthy control and copd subjects (106 in total). RNA was extracted and processed for further hybridization on Affymetrix microarrays (Affymetrix® Human Genome U219 Array Plate)