Carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA)-related cell adhesion molecules are co-expressed in the human lung and their expression can be modulated in bronchial epithelial cells by non-typable Haemophilus influenzae, Moraxella catarrhalis, TLR3, and type I and II interferons

Klaile, Esther; Klassert, Tilman E; Scheffrahn, Inka; Müller, Mario M; Heinrich, Annina; Heyl, Kerstin A; Dienemann, Hendrik; Grünewald, Christiane; Bals, Robert; Singer, Bernhard B; Slevogt, Hortense

It was then examined whether the presence or expression level of CEACAM1, CEACAM5 and CEACAM6 were linked to COPD or smoking status. Table 4 shows the relative staining intensity of the three CEACAMs. Total staining of the paraffin sections, including alveolar epithelium, bronchial epithelium, adventitia submucosa, pleura and blood vessel endothelium, was assessed in the range of 0 (no staining) to 3 (strong staining). However, no correlation was found for either the presence (data not shown) or the expression levels (Table 4) of the tested CEACAMs according to two-tailed Student's t-test. Next, the interdependency of CEACAM1, CEACAM5 and CEACAM6 expression with granulocyte infiltration was analyzed, but again no correlation was detected (Table 4) . Also, the correlation of CEACAM expression with COPD, smoking status and granulocyte infiltration in the individual lung tissues (alveolar epithelium, bronchial epithelium, adventitia submucosa, pleura and blood vessel endothelium) was examined, but no significant differences were found (data not shown).