Fig. 4

A. Gelatin zymograms of MMP-9 activity in the BAL fluid (a), and in freshly isolated BAL cellular components (alveolar macrophages and T cells) (b), of two representative cases of patients with active and inactive sarcoidosis. c, d) MMP-9 activity of alveolar macrophages (c) and lung T cells (d) obtained from the BAL of two representative cases of patients with active and inactive sarcoidosis, cultured in medium alone and with the cytokine TL1A. B) MMP-9 activity of alveolar macrophages obtained from the lung of patients affected by active sarcoidosis (black columns) and inactive sarcoidosis (grey columns), freshly isolated, cultured in medium alone and with TL1A. Zymographic band densities from all samples were quantified by densitometry. Data are expressed as mean ± SD. D) MMP-9 and TIMP-1 mRNA expression in alveolar macrophages obtained from the lung of patients affected by active sarcoidosis (black columns) and inactive sarcoidosis (grey columns), freshly isolated, cultured in medium alone and with TL1A. Expression of MMP-9 and TIMP-1 mRNAs was normalized on GAPDH mRNA. Data are expressed as mean ± SD