Fig. 4

Identification of plasma, sputum and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) derived EVs from included COPD patients. A Morphology of extracellular vesicles by electron microscope and transmission electron microscope. B Exosome nanoparticle tracking analysis. The mean size of EVs in sputum is 124.4 nm; EVs in BALF is 142.1 nm; EVs in serum is 124.1 nm. C Identification of characteristic marker including TSG101 and CD63 by western blot. D Level of IL-6, IL-8, Elane, Antitrypsin and MUC1 in extracellular vesicles derived from sputum, BALF and plasma of COPD patients examined by western blot. E Heatmap indicating the results of mRNA expression of significant difference genes between two groups (HBE treated CSE and subsequent EVs isolated from patients with or without HUA). F-G KEGG enrichment (F) and GO enrichment (G) analysis of these significant differentially expressed genes. Abbreviation: BALF, bronchoalveolar lavage fluid; TSG101, tumor susceptibility gene101; CD63, lysosomal membrane-associated glycoprotein 3; MUC1, mucin 1; EVs, extracellular vesicles; COPD, chronic obstruction pulmonary disease