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Glutathione-S-transferases in lung and sputum specimens, effects of smoking and COPD severity

BACKGROUND: Oxidative stress plays a potential role in the pathogenesis and progression of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Glutathione S-transferases (GSTs) detoxify toxic compounds in tobacco smoke via glutathione-dependent mechanisms. Little is known about the regulation and expressi...

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Autores principales: Harju, Terttu, Mazur, Witold, Merikallio, Heta, Soini, Ylermi, Kinnula, Vuokko L
Formato: Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BioMed Central 2008
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2654438/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19077292
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1465-9921-9-80
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author Harju, Terttu
Mazur, Witold
Merikallio, Heta
Soini, Ylermi
Kinnula, Vuokko L
author_facet Harju, Terttu
Mazur, Witold
Merikallio, Heta
Soini, Ylermi
Kinnula, Vuokko L
author_sort Harju, Terttu
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Oxidative stress plays a potential role in the pathogenesis and progression of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Glutathione S-transferases (GSTs) detoxify toxic compounds in tobacco smoke via glutathione-dependent mechanisms. Little is known about the regulation and expression of GSTs in COPD lung and their presence in airway secretions. METHODS: GST alpha, pi and mu were investigated by immunohistochemistry in 72 lung tissue specimens and by Western analysis in total lung homogenates and induced sputum supernatants from non-smokers, smokers and patients with variable stages of COPD severity. RESULTS: GST alpha was expressed mainly in the airway epithelium. The percentage of GST alpha positive epithelial cells was lower in the central airways of patients with very severe (Stage IV) COPD compared to mild/moderate COPD (p = 0.02). GST alpha by Western analysis was higher in the total lung homogenates in mild/moderate COPD compared to cases of very severe disease (p < 0.001). GST pi was present in airway and alveolar epithelium as well as in alveolar macrophages. GST mu was expressed mainly in the epithelium. Both GST alpha and pi were detectable in sputum supernatants especially in patients with COPD. CONCLUSION: This study indicates the presence of GST alpha and pi especially in the epithelium and sputum supernatants in mild/moderate COPD and low expression of GST alpha in the epithelium in cases of very severe COPD. The presence of GSTs in the airway secretions points to their potential protective role both as intracellular and extracellular mediators in human lung.
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spelling pubmed-26544382009-03-12 Glutathione-S-transferases in lung and sputum specimens, effects of smoking and COPD severity Harju, Terttu Mazur, Witold Merikallio, Heta Soini, Ylermi Kinnula, Vuokko L Respir Res Research BACKGROUND: Oxidative stress plays a potential role in the pathogenesis and progression of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Glutathione S-transferases (GSTs) detoxify toxic compounds in tobacco smoke via glutathione-dependent mechanisms. Little is known about the regulation and expression of GSTs in COPD lung and their presence in airway secretions. METHODS: GST alpha, pi and mu were investigated by immunohistochemistry in 72 lung tissue specimens and by Western analysis in total lung homogenates and induced sputum supernatants from non-smokers, smokers and patients with variable stages of COPD severity. RESULTS: GST alpha was expressed mainly in the airway epithelium. The percentage of GST alpha positive epithelial cells was lower in the central airways of patients with very severe (Stage IV) COPD compared to mild/moderate COPD (p = 0.02). GST alpha by Western analysis was higher in the total lung homogenates in mild/moderate COPD compared to cases of very severe disease (p < 0.001). GST pi was present in airway and alveolar epithelium as well as in alveolar macrophages. GST mu was expressed mainly in the epithelium. Both GST alpha and pi were detectable in sputum supernatants especially in patients with COPD. CONCLUSION: This study indicates the presence of GST alpha and pi especially in the epithelium and sputum supernatants in mild/moderate COPD and low expression of GST alpha in the epithelium in cases of very severe COPD. The presence of GSTs in the airway secretions points to their potential protective role both as intracellular and extracellular mediators in human lung. BioMed Central 2008 2008-12-13 /pmc/articles/PMC2654438/ /pubmed/19077292 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1465-9921-9-80 Text en Copyright © 2008 Harju et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License ( (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0) ), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Research
Harju, Terttu
Mazur, Witold
Merikallio, Heta
Soini, Ylermi
Kinnula, Vuokko L
Glutathione-S-transferases in lung and sputum specimens, effects of smoking and COPD severity
title Glutathione-S-transferases in lung and sputum specimens, effects of smoking and COPD severity
title_full Glutathione-S-transferases in lung and sputum specimens, effects of smoking and COPD severity
title_fullStr Glutathione-S-transferases in lung and sputum specimens, effects of smoking and COPD severity
title_full_unstemmed Glutathione-S-transferases in lung and sputum specimens, effects of smoking and COPD severity
title_short Glutathione-S-transferases in lung and sputum specimens, effects of smoking and COPD severity
title_sort glutathione-s-transferases in lung and sputum specimens, effects of smoking and copd severity
topic Research
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2654438/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19077292
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1465-9921-9-80
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