Eosinophils Promote Epithelial to Mesenchymal Transition of Bronchial Epithelial Cells
Figure 4
Human eosinophils induced EMT morphological changes in BEAS-2B cells.
(A, D) control, (B, E) BEAS-2B cells co-cultured with eosinophils. (C, F) BEAS-2B cells cultured in the presence of TGF-β1. BEAS-2B cells were stained with Diff-Quick after washing out eosinophils (A, B, C). (D, E, F) Immunofluorescence staining was performed with phalloidin (red) and DAPI for nuclei staining (blue) after washing out eosinophils. The scale bars indicate 50 µm. (G, H, I) RNA expression of E-cadherin and vimentin in BEAS-2B cells co-cultured with or without eosinophils and in the presence of TGF-β1 as assessed by RT-PCR and densitometry analysis. (K, L, M) Protein expression of E-cadherin and αSMA in BEAS-2B cells co-cultured with or without eosinophils as assessed by Western blotting and densitometry analysis. Data are expressed as means ± SEM. **P<0.01; *P<0.05.