A protein called Rtp801 is responsible for the development of severe lung disease caused by tobacco smoke, US researchers report in the journal Nature Medicine. In their opinion, Rtp801 could become a good target for emphysema therapy.
Emphysema is an irreversible state of increased volume of the air spaces of the lungs, with the disappearance of elastic elements, cracking of the so-called alveolar septum and a reduction in the number of pulmonary capillaries. The main symptoms of this disease are dry cough, breathlessness worsening with exercise, cyanosis, and right heart failure. Mainly men aged 40-60 are sick, mainly smokers.
Rubin Tuder and his team at the University of Colorado at Denver discovered that a protein called Rtp801, known to increase cell death under oxidative (or aerobic) stress, is hyperactive in the lung cells of people with emphysema and mice exposed to it. tobacco smoke.
When scientists in the laboratory led to increased production of the Rtp801 protein in the lungs of mice, the animals developed pneumonia, increased oxygen stress, and cell death. In turn, when they deprived the mice of the Rtp801 gene, the animals became resistant to lung damage due to the chronic exposure to tobacco smoke.
According to the authors of the study, the results of their research indicate that Rtp801 may be an indicator of oxidative stress in cells and a protein responsible for lung damage caused by tobacco smoke. (PAP)