Fig. 1: miR-146a is upregulated in macrophages during ventilator-induced lung injury.

a Fold change in IL8 secretion in alveolar macrophages (AMs) from three donor lungs subjected to 16 h of oscillatory pressure at an air–liquid interface, compared to unpressurized controls. *indicates that pressure injury is a statistically significant factor, p < 0.0001, via two-way ANOVA on normally distributed data, n = 4 for donors 1 and 3, n = 6 for donor 2. b Relative miR-146a expression in AMs subjected to pressure, calculated by ΔΔCt method, normalized to unpressurized controls. *Indicates that pressure injury is a statistically significant factor, p = 0.0475, via two-way ANOVA on normally distributed data, n = 2 for donor 1, n = 6 for donor 2, n = 4 for donor 3. c Fold change in IL8 secretion from THP1 cells subjected to 16 h of oscillatory pressure at an air–liquid interface (VILI), compared to unpressurized controls. Data normally distributed, p = 0.0160 via two-tailed Student’s t-test, n = 3 wells per group. d Relative miR-146a expression in THP1s subjected to oscillatory pressure, calculated by ΔΔCt method, normalized to unpressurized controls. Data normally distributed, p = 0.0239 via two-tailed Student’s t-test, n = 3 wells per group. e miR-146a expression in RNA extracted from BAL cells in a cohort of patients undergoing a clinically indicated bronchoscopy. Relative expression determined by ΔΔCt method, normalized to no mechanical ventilation (MV). Data log-normally distributed, p = 0.0411 via ANOVA with post-hoc Tukey on log₂ (fold change) comparing MV no ARDS and no MV no ARDS groups; n = 15 for no MV group, n = 11 for MV no ARDS, n = 10 for MV with ARDS. Data are presented as mean ± SEM.