Chest
Volume 125, Issue 2, February 2004, Pages 466-472
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Clinical Investigations
COPD
Matrix Metalloproteinases Activity in COPD Associated With Wood Smoke

https://doi.org/10.1378/chest.125.2.466Get rights and content

Background

Wood smoke (WS) exposure causes COPD with respiratory alterations that are similar to those described for COPD associated with tobacco smoke (TS). The aim of the present study was to analyze the effects of WS on matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) activity and expression.

Design

BAL fluid and macrophages were obtained from patients exposed to WS and TS, and from control subjects. Macrophage elastolytic activity was assayed by radiolabeled elastin degradation. Gelatinolytic activity was measured by zymography in BAL fluid samples. MMP-2, MMP-9, and MMP-12 expression were analyzed by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction in macrophages from each group.

Results

Macrophage elastolytic activity was increased significantly in WS and TS cells in comparison to control subjects with no differences between WS and TS samples. MMP-2 was identified in all groups as a 72-Kd band (proMMP-2), with the highest activity in the WS samples. MMP-9 was present in its latent and active forms with the highest gelatinolytic activity in the WS group. MMP-2 expression was increased in both groups as well as MMP-12 compared with the control. Two of three subjects studied in each COPD group had a significant increase in MMP-9 expression.

Conclusion

These findings demonstrate that WS increases MMP activity and expression that might produce lung damage similar to that observed in COPD associated with TS.

Section snippets

Study Population

Twelve patients with COPD were examined. The diagnosis of COPD was confirmed by medical history and the results of pulmonary function tests. COPD was defined according to American Thoracic Society criteria.22 A history of productive daily cough for 3 consecutive months each year for the past 2 years, with an FEV1 of < 80% of the predicted value, an FEV1/FVC ratio of < 70%, and a reversibility in FEV1 of < 10% after inhalation of 400 μg salbutamol. Subjects with a history of asthma, atopy, or

Elastolytic Activity

Elastolytic activity using 3H-elastin-precoated wells was detected in all samples assayed (Fig 1). The mean WS and TS elastolytic activity (4.5 ± 1.27 and 3.0 ± 0.9 μg degraded elastin per 106 cells per 48 h, respectively) was significantly increased in comparison with the control group (1.42 ± 0.81 μg degraded elastin per 106 cells per 48 h; p < 0.05). Differences between WS and TS samples were not significant. Elastolytic activity was inhibited by EDTA but not by PMSF.

Gelatinolytic Activity

Zymography analysis

Discussion

The use of wood and other biomasses for cooking and heating is a very frequent practice worldwide, especially in developing countries, but respiratory alterations due to the exposure to WS scarcely have been investigated.192021 The clinical respiratory alterations associated with long-term WS exposure are the same as those for cigarette smoking. Moreover, chronic bronchitis and emphysema have been observed in non-tobacco smokers exposed to WS.29 The effects of TS on the inflammatory process and

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