Fig. 6

Effect of treatment on IL33 expression and goblet cell metaplasia assessed by histological analysis. A Interleukin-33 expression as assessed by immuno-histochemistry and blinded semi-quantitative scoring, 24 h after re-challenge with HDM. IL33 expression was localised to Type II pneumocytes identified by location and morphology. HDM re-challenge resulted in significant expression of IL33 in Type II pneumocytes compared to saline challenged controls. Treatment with PI-3065 significantly ablated IL33 expression in Type II pneumocytes, whereas montelukast or anti-IL5 antibody treatment were ineffective at inhibiting IL33 expression. B Representative histological images (× 20 magnification) of IL33 expression in each treatment group. C Identification of goblet cell metaplasia was carried out by Alcian Blue/Periodic Acid Schiff tinctorial staining at the 72 h time-point post HDM re-challenge. D Representative histological images of AB/PAS positive goblet cells in each treatment group. Treatment with PI-3065, but not anti-IL5 antibody or montelukast treatment, was able to reduce goblet cell metaplasia in the airways. Data in A and C is presented as median with range. Data resulted from blinded immuno-histochemistry scoring and were analysed for significance using Kruskal–Wallis test with Dunn’s multiple comparison post-hoc test. (n = 3 per group for saline controls and 4–8 for HDM re-challenged groups) ^##p < 0.01, compared to vehicle + saline control group. ***p < 0.001, compared to vehicle + HDM re-challenged group