Figure 3

Bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) protein levels of chemokine (C-C motif) ligand 5 (CCL5) from patients with sarcoidosis were elevated as compared to normal healthy controls. BALF protein levels of CCL5 by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) from (a) all sarcoidosis patients (n = 72) compared with normal healthy volunteers (n = 8), (b) different stages of sarcoidosis (stage I (n = 27), stage II (n = 36) and stage III (n = 9)), (c) sarcoid patients with (n = 27) and without (n = 45) alveolitis, and (d) sarcoidosis patients with (n = 8) and without (n = 64) empirical treatment at the time of diagnosis. *P = 0.002 for sarcoid versus normal; **P < 0.04 for stage I, II, and III verses normal; ***P < 0.04 for with or without alveolitis versus normal; ****P < 0.04 for with or without treatment verses normal. Representative immunohistochemistry for CCL5 (e-g) and isotype control antibody (h) on lung biopsy tissue from stages II pulmonary sarcoidosis without alveolitis and on empiric therapy. Representative immunohistochemistry for CCL5 (i-k) and isotype control antibody (l) on lung biopsy tissue from stages III pulmonary sarcoidosis without alveolitis or empiric therapy. CCL5 protein expression was found in epithelioid histiocytes and multinucleated giant cells forming non-necrotizing granulomas, as well as from surrounding alveolar macrophages and other infiltrating mononuclear cells. Panels were photographed at 50 × (e, i, h, l), 100 × (f, j), and 200 × (g, k) original magnification.