Effect of Azithromycin on TGFβ1-induced EMT of primary human small and large airway epithelial cell cultures – expression of epithelial and mesenchymal markers.

<p>Primary small airway epithelial cell (SAEC) and large airway epithelial cell (LAEC) cultures were stimulated with TGFβ1 (50 ng/ml) for 96 h to induce EMT. Azithromycin (1 µg/ml, 10 µg/ml, 50 µg/ml) was simultaneously added to observe its effect of preventing or slowing EMT, by measuring change in expression of epithelial markers (ZO-1, Ck-19) and mesenchymal markers (EDA-Fn, Vim) by Western blots. (A) Initial immunoblots suggested that addition of azithromycin even at a sub-clinical dose (1 µg/ml) significantly suppressed EMT compared to the control. Further quantification of the immunoblots showed a suppression in theincrease in expression of mesenchymal markers (B) vimentin (Vim) and (C) EDA- Fibronectin (EDA-Fn), and the decrease in expression of epithelial markers (D) Zona Occludens -1 (ZO-1) and (E) Cytokeratin-19 (Ck-19) in SAEC and LAEC, observed in the control samples which were stimulated with TGFβ1 alone (n = 6). Data presented as median ± IQR. *p<0.05 compared to control.