Table 4

 Effect of HA on spontaneous and LPS stimulated TNFα release in blood cells

Control subjectsCOPD patients
Non-smoking (n = 11)Smoking (n = 10)Steroid free (n = 9)Steroid treated (n = 8)
LPS, lipopolysaccharide; HA, hyaluronan.
Values are expressed as median (range).
TNFα was measured by ELISA and expressed in pg/ml. The detection level of the assay was 10 pg/ml, therefore samples that were not measurable are indicated as <10 pg/ml. The effect of 10 μg/ml HA 122 kDa and 10 μg/ml HA >103 kDa are shown. Intra-group comparisons were performed by the Friedman test and, if appropriate (at p<0.05), by a paired Wilcoxon rank sum test.
*p<0.05 v TNFα production in response to LPS 1 ng/ml without HA added.
†p<0.05 v TNFα production in response to LPS 10 ng/ml without HA added.
LPS 0None<10 (<10–21)<10 (<10–22)<10 (<10–57)<10 (<10–47)
HA 122 kDa<10 (<10–19)<10 (<10–14)<10 (<10–27)<10 (<10–25)
HA >103 kDa<10 (<10–15)<10 (<10–29)<10 (<10–37)<10 (<10–105)
LPS 1 ng/mlNone738 (125–3172)533 (98–1607)1117 (96–3057)829 (86–2468)
HA 122 kDa496 (16–1916)*189 (24–1547)*859 (74–2684)*404 (10–1433)*
HA >103 kDa466 (10–2305)*122 (37–1784)*928 (117–2840)*558 (41–1783)*
LPS 10 ng/mlNone1677 (625–3681)1902 (1110–2654)2619 (1694–3386)2405 (794–3543)
HA 122 kDa1501 (520–3513)1654 (540–2696)2534 (1151–3760)2296 (559–3080)
HA >103 kDa1386 (421–3214)1708 (908–2606)2545 (1428–3225)†2477 (828–3264)