The number and area of vessels stained for TGF-β1 in the Rbm were significantly different between groups (Kruskal-Wallis test, p<0.01 for both comparisons), with S-N, S-COPD and ES-COPD demonstrating a higher number of TGF-β1 stained vessels/mm Rbm compared to the control group [median (range) for S-N 2.5 (0.0–12.7), for S-COPD 3.4 (0.0–8.1) and for ES-COPD 1.4 (0.0–6.3) vs. H-N 0.0 (0.0–7.0)] (Figure 2). The gene discussed is TGFB1; the disease is chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.