Jd. Aubert et al., PLATELET-DERIVED GROWTH-FACTOR AND ITS RECEPTOR IN LUNGS FROM PATIENTS WITH ASTHMA AND CHRONIC AIR-FLOW OBSTRUCTION, The American journal of physiology, 266(6), 1994, pp. 120000655-120000663
The airway walls of patients who have asthma or chronic obstructive pu
lmonary disease (COPD) are thickened by an increase in the amount of s
mooth muscle and connective tissue. Platelet-derived growth factor (PD
GF) is a candidate cytokine for this increase because it can produce s
mooth muscle proliferation in vitro. The present study was designed to
examine the expression of PDGF and its receptor (PDGFR) in lungs from
six asthmatics, six patients with COPD, and six patients with normal
lung function. PDGF was immunolocalized to tissue macrophages, but the
number of PDGF-positive cells was similar in all three groups. PDGFR-
beta was rarely expressed on interstitial cells, and, occasionally, on
bronchial epithelium. Northern blotting, performed on tissue from the
same groups, showed a positive correlation of PDGF(B) with PDGFR-beta
mRNA level (r = 0.74, P < 0.001) and a higher abundance of PDGF(B) an
d PDGFR-beta mRNA in the asthmatics vs. the COPD (P < 0.05). We conclu
de that PDGF and its receptor are expressed in human lungs but do not
correlate closely with the structural changes in diseased airways.