Decreased gene expression of interleukin 2 receptor subunit γ (CD132) in tissues of patients with Crohn’s disease

Figure 2 Interleukin 7 (IL-7) gene expression (retrotranscription-quantitative PCR) and IL-7 protein in tissues (Western blot analysis) and serum (enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay). A: Differences in interleukin 7 (IL-7) gene expression and IL-7 protein levels in tissues [arbitrary units (AU)] of patients with Crohn's disease (CD) (n = 25) vs healthy controls (HCs) (n = 25), and IL-7 in serum (pg/mL). Values are expressed as means, and double T bars denote standard deviation (^aP < 0.05). Mann-Whitney U test was used; B: Relationship of IL-7 gene expression and its levels in CD and HC tissues. Spearman’s r test was used; C: IL-7 gene expression to perform retrotranscription-qPCR. The relative expression of each gene was normalized against glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GADPH) expression, used as reference standards; D: IL-7 protein expression. Western blot analysis was performed with protein extracts from intestinal biopsies. The loading control was done with anti-actin, 1:1000) (not shown). The visualized fragments were quantified by densitometry using the ImageJ software (National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, United States).