Legends for Figures
Figure 1 : Rate of wound closure (% per hour) of primary nasal epithelial cells grown into a fully-differentiated epithelium at the air-liquid interface from mutually exclusive groups of healthy subjects (n=17), non-atopic asthmatics (n=12), atopic non-asthmatics (n=16) and atopic asthmatics (n=10). The rate of wound healing was significantly lower (p=0.02) in atopic subjects when compared to healthy or non-atopic asthmatics.
Figure 2: Impact of IL-13 on wound closure rate (%/hour). Panel A: exogenous IL-13 (10ng/ml) added to the basolateral media for 7 days prior to wounding. Panel B: IL-13 inhibiting antibody (Clone 31606) added to the basolateral media for 7 days prior to wounding. Wound closure was slower in the presence of exogenous IL-13 (p<0.001) but not influenced by anti-IL-13 (p=0.68).
Figure 3: Impact of EGF on wound closure. Panel A: exogenous EGF (25ng/ml) added to the basolateral media for 7 days prior to wounding. Panel B: EGF receptor blocker, Erlotinib (2µg/ml) added to the basolateral media for 7 days prior to wounding. Wound closure was unaffected by exogenous EGF (p=0.58) but markedly slower in the presence of Erlotinib (p=0.006).