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

Expression and co-expression patterns of CEACAM1, CEACAM5 and CEACAM6 in the human lung were analyzed. Paraffin sections of lung tissues from 19 donors who underwent surgery for lung resection to treat lung cancer (Table 1) were stained with an IgG control antibody and antibodies specific for CEACAM1, 5 and 6, as well as with an antibody specific for CEACAM8, which is solely expressed in human granulocytes. Noncancer tissues from these sections were used for analysis. Figure 1 shows representative CEACAM stainings of lung sections for the respective antibodies. Table 2 gives an overview of the number of positive tissues in the specimens. CEACAM1 was expressed in 12 out of 19 lungs, CEACAM5 in 18 out of 19 and CEACAM6 in all 19 lungs examined ( Figure 1 and Table 2 ). As expected, granulocyte-specific CEACAM8 ( Figure 1D , Table 2 ) showed strong staining if infiltrated granulocytes appeared (data not shown) and did not give any staining above IgG background in granulocyte-free lung tissues (Table 2) .