CCL5 and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: Patients with mild/moderate COPD exacerbations show an increased number of eosinophils in their bronchial mucosa and increased mRNA for CCL5 (RANTES), neutrophils, T lymphocytes, very late antigen (VLA)-1 and TNF-α in comparison with stable COPD patients [15, 17, 18] (Table 1).