Polyclonal goat anti-human gal-1, gal-3 and gal-9 were from R&D Systems (Minneapolis, MN, USA). Secondary antibodies Alexa Fluor 647-conjugated donkey anti-goat (DAG), Alexa Fluor 568-conjugated goat anti-mouse (GAM) and Alexa Fluor 488-conjugated DAG were from Molecular Probes (Leiden, the Netherlands). Sputum cells from 15 asthma patients and 10 healthy donors were labelled with PO-anti-CD45, PE-anti-HLA-DR,

PB-anti-CD16 and APC-H7-anti-CD14. For galectin detection, cells were stained with goat polyclonal anti-gal-1, anti-gal-3 or anti-gal-9 followed by Alexa Fluor 647-DAG. Before antibody incubation, Fc-receptors were blocked with human gamma-globulin. Analyses MLN0128 clinical trial were performed with a fluorescence activated cell sorter (FACS)Canto II cytometer (Becton Dickinson, Franklin Lakes, NJ, USA). Galectin expression was analysed as mean fluorescence intensity (MFI). PBMC were islolated from 15 ml of venous peripheral blood from five healthy donors by density gradient. PBMC were seeded (5 × 105) onto 24-well plates and stimulated

with 100 ng/ml lipopolysaccharide (LPS); where indicated, 10 μg/ml human recombinant (h) gal-1 (Prepotech, London UK), gal-3 (ImmunoTools, Friesoythe, Germany) or gal-9 (R&D Systems) were added. After 24 h, cytokine expression was detected at mRNA and protein level using RT–PCR and cytometric bead array (BD Biosciences), respectively. Bead array data were acquired using FACSCanto II cytometer. In addition, Dabrafenib supplier IL-10

and IL-4 production were analysed in peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBLs) from four healthy donors. Briefly, PBMC were depleted of monocytes and PBLs (2 × 106) were seeded onto 24-well plates precoated or not with 0·5 μg/ml anti-CD3 and 1 μg/ml anti-CD28; where indicated, 10 μg/ml h gal-1, h gal-3 or h gal-9 were added. After else 24 h of incubation, culture supernatants were collected and quantified by cytometric bead array. RNA was isolated with Trizol RNA reagent (Invitrogen, Eugene, OR, USA) and RT–PCR was performed from 250 ng of RNA from 16 asthma patients and 11 healthy donors. In the case of PBMC, RNA was isolated from five healthy donors. mRNA levels of IL-5, IL-13, gal-1, gal-3 and gal-9 for sputum samples and IL-10, IL-12A, IL-12B, IL-1β and TNF-α for PBMC were determined in duplicate using Power SYBR Green PCR master mix from Applied Biosystems (Warrington, UK). Expression levels were normalized using glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) or beta-actin as controls. Primers sequences are shown in Supplementary Table S1. Cytospin preparations were fixed with 4% paraformaldehyde in PBS, permeabilized with 0·2% Triton X-100. After blocking of Fc-receptors with human gamma-globulin, cytospin preparations were labelled with anti-gal-1, anti-gal-3 or anti-gal-9. Next, Alexa Fluor 488-coupled DAG 1:100 was added. Preparations were blocked with goat serum and incubated with mouse anti-human CD45 followed by Alexa Fluor 568-coupled GAM.