Study suggests new opportunities to treat prevent cigarette-related lung injury

Addressing the chronic inflammation that characterizes several types of tobacco use and addiction University of Nevada Medical Center investigators from the Sobol Center at the University of Nevada Passaic have published the manuscript showing how exposure to secondhand tobacco smoke expands the lung tissue damage by future generations.

The findings which article author Gurprit Chauhan Ph. D. deputy director experimental medicine and cancer on the University of Nevada Health System Medical Program said point to a promising therapeutic avenue in the rehabilitation of smokers affected by damage to their lung tissue and disease.

Our findings indicate that microenvironment exposure and tobacco use can simultaneously promote structural and functional remodeling of lungs and may lead to the formation of a now resistant and enduring dysfunction (inflammation) in the lung he said.

By studying the genes and environment of 22 non-smokers and 18 nonsmokers researchers identified a signature of genes whose expression was significantly elevated in the presence of secondhand tobacco smoke. The study also demonstrated that cell 5 which helps seal the lungs and help protect the lung from inhaling second-hand smoke had prolonged survival in non-smokers who were exposed to secondhand tobacco smoke from cigarettes.

We believe that these findings are a step forward in our understanding of how smoking suppresses the lung and promotes lung inflammation in the first place said Dr. Chauhan. We hope that these findings will contribute to the battle against tobacco disease.