Nd cell lysates (lysated with 50 mM HEPES (pH 7.4), 150 mM NaCl, 15 mM MgCl2, 1 mM EDTA, 10 glycerol and1 Triton-X in Milli Q water) were harvested and frozen until use. Equal amounts of proteins of boiled nonreduced samples were separated electrophoretically (SDSPAGE 10 ) and transferred onto nitrocellulose membranes. The membranes were blocked with PBS-0.05 Tween-20 (PBST) containing 5 milk proteins for 1 hour at room temperature. After blocking, primary antibody rabbit anti-human PE (1:500) in PBST containing 5 milk proteins was applied overnight at 4uC. Subsequently, the membranes were incubated with goat antirabbit-HRP antibodies (1:2000) in PBST containing 5 milk proteins for 1 hour. The antibodies were visualized using commercial ECL reagents and exposed to photographic film.Electrospray ionization liquid chromatography S/MS (ESI-LC/MS/MS) for PGP and N-ac-PGP detectionPGP and N-ac-PGP were measured as previous described [34] using a MDS Sciex (Applied Biosystems, Foster City, CA) API4000 spectrometer equipped with a Shimadzu HPLC (Columbia, MD). HPLC was done using a 2.06150-mm Jupiter 4u Proteo column (Phenomenex, Torrance, CA) with buffer A (0.1 HCOOH) and buffer B (MeCN+0.1 HCOOH): 0 min?.5 min 5 buffer B/95 buffer A, then increased over 0.5?.5 min to 100 buffer B/0 buffer A. Background was removed by flushing with 100 isopropanol/0.1 formic acid. Positive electrospray mass transitions were at 270?0, 270?16, and 270?73 for PGP and 312?40 and 312?12 of N-ac-PGP.ImmunohistochemistryParaffin sections of human lung specimens were deparaffinized, endogenous peroxidase activity was blocked with 0.3 H2O2 in methanol for 30 minutes at room temperature and rehydrated in a graded ethanol series to PBS. For antigen retrieval, the slides were boiled in 10 mM citrate buffer (pH 6.0) for 10 minutes in a microwave. The slides were cooled down to room temperature, rinsed with PBS (36) and blocked with 5 goat serum in 1 bovine serum albumin in PBS for 30 minutes at room temperature. Sections were incubated with the primary antibody (rabbitanti-PE, 0.6 ug/ml) in 1 bovine serum albumin/PBS overnight at 4uC. The slides were rinsed with PBS (36) and incubated with the biotinylated secondary antibody (1:200) in 1 bovine serum albumin/PBS for 45 minutes at room temperature. The slides were rinsed with PBS (36) and the biotinylated proteins were visualized by incubation with streptavidin iotin 18325633 complex/horseradish peroxidase for 45 minutes at room temperature, followed by 0.015 H2O2/0.05 diaminobenzidene/0.05 M Tris Cl (pH 7.6) for 10 minutes at room temperature. Sections were counterstained with Mayers’ haematoxylin, dehydrated and mounted in Permount. Negative controls without the primary antibody and normal rabbit IgG were included as controls.Statistical analysesFor all statistical analyses, GraphPad Prism version 4.0 was used. When data passed the normality test; two-tailed Student ttests were used for comparing control and CSE paired groups and one-tailed Student t-tests were used for comparing control and Nac-PGP paired groups. For comparing three or more paired groups, parametric data were 3PO analyzed using a Indolactam V repeated measures ANOVA followed by Tukey post hoc analysis. When data did not pass the normality test; Mann-Whitney tests were used for comparing two groups and Friedman tests followed by Dunns post hoc analysis were used for comparing three or more groups. Data were considered significant at p,0.05. All results are ex.Nd cell lysates (lysated with 50 mM HEPES (pH 7.4), 150 mM NaCl, 15 mM MgCl2, 1 mM EDTA, 10 glycerol and1 Triton-X in Milli Q water) were harvested and frozen until use. Equal amounts of proteins of boiled nonreduced samples were separated electrophoretically (SDSPAGE 10 ) and transferred onto nitrocellulose membranes. The membranes were blocked with PBS-0.05 Tween-20 (PBST) containing 5 milk proteins for 1 hour at room temperature. After blocking, primary antibody rabbit anti-human PE (1:500) in PBST containing 5 milk proteins was applied overnight at 4uC. Subsequently, the membranes were incubated with goat antirabbit-HRP antibodies (1:2000) in PBST containing 5 milk proteins for 1 hour. The antibodies were visualized using commercial ECL reagents and exposed to photographic film.Electrospray ionization liquid chromatography S/MS (ESI-LC/MS/MS) for PGP and N-ac-PGP detectionPGP and N-ac-PGP were measured as previous described [34] using a MDS Sciex (Applied Biosystems, Foster City, CA) API4000 spectrometer equipped with a Shimadzu HPLC (Columbia, MD). HPLC was done using a 2.06150-mm Jupiter 4u Proteo column (Phenomenex, Torrance, CA) with buffer A (0.1 HCOOH) and buffer B (MeCN+0.1 HCOOH): 0 min?.5 min 5 buffer B/95 buffer A, then increased over 0.5?.5 min to 100 buffer B/0 buffer A. Background was removed by flushing with 100 isopropanol/0.1 formic acid. Positive electrospray mass transitions were at 270?0, 270?16, and 270?73 for PGP and 312?40 and 312?12 of N-ac-PGP.ImmunohistochemistryParaffin sections of human lung specimens were deparaffinized, endogenous peroxidase activity was blocked with 0.3 H2O2 in methanol for 30 minutes at room temperature and rehydrated in a graded ethanol series to PBS. For antigen retrieval, the slides were boiled in 10 mM citrate buffer (pH 6.0) for 10 minutes in a microwave. The slides were cooled down to room temperature, rinsed with PBS (36) and blocked with 5 goat serum in 1 bovine serum albumin in PBS for 30 minutes at room temperature. Sections were incubated with the primary antibody (rabbitanti-PE, 0.6 ug/ml) in 1 bovine serum albumin/PBS overnight at 4uC. The slides were rinsed with PBS (36) and incubated with the biotinylated secondary antibody (1:200) in 1 bovine serum albumin/PBS for 45 minutes at room temperature. The slides were rinsed with PBS (36) and the biotinylated proteins were visualized by incubation with streptavidin iotin 18325633 complex/horseradish peroxidase for 45 minutes at room temperature, followed by 0.015 H2O2/0.05 diaminobenzidene/0.05 M Tris Cl (pH 7.6) for 10 minutes at room temperature. Sections were counterstained with Mayers’ haematoxylin, dehydrated and mounted in Permount. Negative controls without the primary antibody and normal rabbit IgG were included as controls.Statistical analysesFor all statistical analyses, GraphPad Prism version 4.0 was used. When data passed the normality test; two-tailed Student ttests were used for comparing control and CSE paired groups and one-tailed Student t-tests were used for comparing control and Nac-PGP paired groups. For comparing three or more paired groups, parametric data were analyzed using a repeated measures ANOVA followed by Tukey post hoc analysis. When data did not pass the normality test; Mann-Whitney tests were used for comparing two groups and Friedman tests followed by Dunns post hoc analysis were used for comparing three or more groups. Data were considered significant at p,0.05. All results are ex.