Variability of antioxidant-related gene expression in the airway epithelium of cigarette smokers.

Publication Type	Academic Article
Authors	Hackett N, Heguy A, Harvey B, O'Connor T, Luettich K, Flieder D, Kaplan R, Crystal R
Journal	Am J Respir Cell Mol Biol
Volume	29
Issue	3 Pt 1
Pagination	331-43
Date Published	04/17/2003
ISSN	1044-1549
Keywords	Antioxidants, Epithelium, Gene Expression, Lung, Smoking
Abstract	Cigarette smoking is the major risk factor for developing chronic bronchitis, yet only 15-20% of smokers develop this disorder. Because oxidants are the major mechanism of smoking-induced airway damage, we hypothesized that smoking is associated with upregulation of various antioxidant-related genes in the airway epithelium, but the magnitude of the response shows high inter-individual variability. Microarray analysis was used to assess levels of expression of 44 antioxidant-related genes in four categories (catalase/superoxide dismutase family; glutathione metabolism; redox balance; and pentose phosphate cycle) in bronchoscopy-obtained airway epithelium of matched cohorts (13 current smokers, 9 nonsmokers), none of whom had lung disease. There was minimal variation in gene expression levels within the same individual (right versus left lung or over time), but significant upregulation of 16/44 antioxidant-related genes in smoker epithelium compared with nonsmokers. Subgroups of smokers were identified with clusters of expression levels of antioxidant-related genes. We propose that the antioxidant-related genes demonstrating the most variability in the level of expression in smokers may be useful genetic markers in epidemiologic studies assessing susceptibility to smoking-induced chronic bronchitis.
DOI	10.1165/rcmb.2002-0321OC
PubMed ID	12702543