Figure 2.

Expression of Bak, Bcl-xl, and Mcl-1 mRNA’s in peripheral blood neutrophils. Real-time PCR was used to determine the expression of (A) Bak, (B) Bcl-xl, and (C) Mcl-1 mRNAs in peripheral blood neutrophils. The ΔΔCt value for each mRNA was normalized to the value of the GADPH housekeeping gene mRNA. Results are means ± SEMs for: COPD/smokers (n = 24); COPD/non-smokers (n = 23); Healthy/smokers (n = 24); and Healthy/non-smokers (n = 23). Groups were compared using two-sample t-test for Bak and Mcl-1 mRNA’s, and a Mann–Whitney U test for Bcl-x1 mRNA due to its non-normal distribution. * significant difference as compared with Healthy/non-smokers (p < 0.05); † significant difference as compared with Healthy/smokers (p < 0.05).