AIM2 and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: In sharp contrast, the stimulation of AIM2 with Poly dA:dT did not induce a significant increase of IL-1α release from stable COPD-derived PBMCs (median ± SEM: 182.9 ± 55.1), but it was still as high as that released from PBMCs during the exacerbation phase after AIM2 stimulation (median ± SEM: 133 ± 15) (Figure 1A, red bars vs. black bars).