COPD: recognizing the susceptible smoker
Year: 2014
Type: dissertation
Abstract: Smoking is the main cause of COPD, a chronic non-curable lung disease. Not all smokers develop COPD and it is still unclear why COPD is only manifested in a small subset of smokers (15-20%). Probably their genetic background makes the difference. We investigated whether young individuals (18-40 years) being susceptible to the development of COPD (having smoking family members with COPD) show different responses to cigarette smoke than young individuals who are not susceptible (having smoking family members without COPD). We show that activation markers of inflammatory cells in blood are increased in susceptible smokers after smoking of 3 cigarettes but not in non-susceptible young smokers. This suggests a role of systemic inflammation in the induction of COPD. Additionally, the amount of AGEs (glycated proteins that are formed during inflammatory processes and accumulate in tissues where they can cause local damage) is increased in the skin of COPD patients. The receptor for AGEs is decreased in blood of COPD patients, indicating an impaired protective mechanism in COPD patients. We investigated effects of corticosteroids (commonly used medication in obstructive lung diseases). Using the corticosteroid skin test we showed that patients with severe COPD are less responsive to corticosteroids than patients with a milder COPD. Smoking can impair the effects corticosteroids. We showed that inhaled corticosteroids in smokers and ex-smokers reduce the number of some inflammatory cells in the airways after both short-term (6 months) and after long-term (3 years) treatment.
Author: Susan Hoonhorst
Language: English
Subfield: Pulmonary and Respiratory Medicine
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2480233498