RATIONALE Biomass is the energy source for cooking and heating for billions of people worldwide. Despite their prevalent use and their potential impact on global health, the effects of these fuels on lung biology and function remain poorly understood. METHODS We exposed human small airway epithelial cells and C57BL/6 mice to dung biomass smoke or cigarette smoke to compare how these exposures...

BACKGROUND Chronic cigarette smoke exposure is known to activate the adaptive immune system; however, the functional role of these processes is currently unknown. Given the role of oxidized lipids in driving innate inflammatory responses to cigarette smoke, we investigated whether an adaptive immune response against damaged lipids was induced following chronic cigarette smoke exposure. METHOD...

OBJECTIVE To describe a new murine model of cigarette smoke-induced emphysema. METHODS Twenty-four male Wistar rats were divided into two groups: the cigarette smoke group, comprising 12 rats exposed to smoke from 12 commercial filter cigarettes three times a day (a total of 36 cigarettes per day) every day for 30 weeks; and the control group, comprising 12 rats exposed to room air three time...

BACKGROUND There have been many recent developments of in vitro cigarette smoke systems closely replicating in vivo exposures. The Borgwaldt RM20S smoking machine (RM20S) enables the serial dilution and delivery of cigarette smoke to exposure chambers for in vitro analyses. In this study we have demonstrated reliability and robustness testing of the RM20S in delivering smoke to in vitro culture...

The EGF receptor (EGFR) and its downstream signaling are implicated in lung cancer development. Therefore, much effort was spent in developing specific tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKI) that bind to the EGFR ATP-pocket, blocking EGFR phosphorylation/signaling. Clinical use of TKIs is effective in a subset of lung cancers with mutations in the EGFR kinase domain, rendering the receptor highly sus...

The human bronchial epithelial cell is one of the first cell types to be exposed to the irritants and toxins present in inhaled cigarette smoke. The ability of the bronchial epithelium to modulate inflammatory and immune events in response to cigarette smoke is important in the pathogenesis of smoke-induced airway injury. We have shown that cigarette smoke extract and the complement anaphylatox...

A new study demonstrates that lifetime whole-body exposure of B6C3F1 mice to high doses of cigarette smoke robustly increases lung cancer incidence compared with sham exposed animals. This is the first study to demonstrate a strong effect of inhaled cigarette smoke on lung cancer in an animal model. This commentary attempts to put the new results in perspective with the existing literature on c...

Both mainstream and sidestream cigarette smoke are complex chemical mixtures. In view of this chemical complexity, it should be no surprise that cigarette smoke has multiple, diverse effects on human health. Nor should it be unexpected that multiple chemicals in cigarette smoke contribute to any single adverse health effect. The diverse human health consequences of cigarette smoking are briefly...