Cigarette smoke represents the major risk factor for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Cigarette smoke extracts (CSE) alter TLR4 expression and activation in bronchial epithelial cells. Carbocysteine, an anti-oxidant and mucolytic agent, is effective in reducing the severity and the rate of exacerbations in COPD patients. The effects of carbocysteine on TLR4 expression and on the TL...

Long-term cigarette smoke induces lung inflammatory injury and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), associated with skeletal muscle inflammation. This study aimed at investigating how cigarette smoke promotes skeletal muscle inflammation and its molecular pathogenesis. Mice were exposed to air or cigarette smoke for 12 or 24 weeks, and C2C12 cells were stimulated with cigarette smoke e...

Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) of retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells is inevitable change of age‑related macular degeneration (AMD). Smoking is a major risk factor for the development of EMT in several diseases, including lung cancer. Cigarette smoke‑induced stress promotes the production of epidermal growth factor (EGF) in RPE cells. However, the underlying signaling pathways indu...

Cigarette smoke is the most important environmental risk factor for developing age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Damage to the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) caused by cigarette smoke may underlie the etiology of AMD. This study investigated the molecular and cellular effects of cigarette smoke exposure on human RPE cells. ARPE-19 or primary human RPE cells were exposed to cigarette smo...

Cigarette smoke is a common environmental insult associated with increased risk of developing airway diseases such as wheezing and asthma in neonates and children. In adults, asthma involves airway remodeling characterized by increased airway smooth muscle (ASM) cell proliferation and increased extracellular matrix (ECM) deposition, as well as airway hyperreactivity. The effects of cigarette sm...

Cigarette smoking, a major risk factor for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, can cause airway inflammation, airway narrowing, and loss of elasticity, leading to chronic airflow limitation. In this report, we sought to define the signaling pathways activated by smoke and to identify molecules responsible for cigarette smoke-induced inflammation. We applied cigarette smoke water extract (CSE...

cigarette smoking is one of the main risk factors for premature human death associated to a variety of respiratory and vascular diseases, and cancer due to containing hundreds of toxicants. rat mitochondria were obtained by differential ultracentrifugation and incubated with different concentrations (1, 10 and 100%) of standardized cigarette smoke extract (cse). our results showed that cigarett...

Injury of the alveolar epithelium by cigarette smoke is presumed to be an important process in the pathogenesis of smoking-related pulmonary diseases. We investigated the cytotoxic effects of cigarette smoke extract (CSE) on an alveolar type II cell-derived cell line (A549). CSE caused apoptosis at concentrations of 5% or less and necrosis at 10% or more. When CSE was exposed to air before appl...

BACKGROUND/AIMS Epoxyeicosatrienoic acids (EETs), a type of lipid mediators produced by cytochrome P450 epoxygenases, exert anti-inflammatory, angiogenic, anti-oxidative and anti-apoptotic effects. However, the role of EETs in cigarette smoke-induced lung injury and the underlying mechanisms are not fully known. The aim of this study was to explore the effects of CYP2J2-EETs on cigarette smoke ...

BACKGROUND The damaging effects of cigarette smoke on the lungs are well known in terms of cancer risks. Additional molecular changes within the lung tissue can also occur as a result of exposure to cigarette smoke. The human β-defensin (hBD) class of antimicrobial peptides is the focus of our research. In addition to antimicrobial activity, β-defensins also have immunomodulatory functions. Ove...