- Erratum in:
- Am J Pathol. 2008 Dec;173(6):1929. Leynaert, A Benedicte [corrected to Leynaert, Benedicte].
Heme oxygenase-1 prevents airway mucus hypersecretion induced by cigarette smoke in rodents and humans.
Almolki A,
Guenegou A,
Golda S,
Boyer L,
Benallaoua M,
Amara N,
Bachoual R,
Martin C,
Rannou F,
Lanone S,
Dulak J,
Burgel PR,
El-Benna J,
Leynaert B,
Aubier M,
Boczkowski J.
INSERM U700, Université Paris 7, Paris, France.
We investigated the role of heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1), a powerful anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant enzyme, in modulating cigarette smoke (CS)-induced mucus secretion. In both rats and mice, 5-day CS exposure increased HO-1 expression and activity, mucus secretion, MUCIN 5AC (MUC5AC) gene and protein expression, and local inflammation, along with up-regulation of dual oxidase 1 gene expression and both the activity and phosphorylation of the epidermal growth factor receptor, which is involved in MUC5AC induction. Pharmacological induction of HO-1 prevented these actions and inhibition of HO-1 expression by a specific siRNA potentiated them. In French participants to the European Community Respiratory Health Survey II (n = 210, 30 to 53 years of age, 50% males) exposed to CS, a significant increase in the percentage of participants with chronic sputum was observed in those harboring at least one allele with a long (GT)(n) in the HO-1 promoter gene (>33 repeats), which is associated with a low level of HO-1 protein expression, compared with those with a short number of (GT)n repeats (21.7% versus 8.6%, P = 0.047). No such results were observed in those who had never smoked (n = 297). We conclude that HO-1 has a significant protective effect against airway mucus hypersecretion in animals and humans exposed to CS.
PMID: 18787101 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
PMCID: PMC2543067