BackgroundWhereas cilia damage and reduced cilia beat frequency have been implicated as causative of reduced mucociliary clearance in smokers, theoretically mucociliary clearance could also be affected by cilia length. Based on models of mucociliary clearance predicting that cilia length must exceed the 6–7 µm airway surface fluid depth to generate force in the mucus layer, we hypothesized that cilia height may be decreased in airway epithelium of normal smokers compared to nonsmokers.Methodology/Principal FindingsCilia length in normal nonsmokers and smokers was evaluated in aldehyde-fixed, paraffin-embedded endobronchial biopsies, and air-dried and hydrated samples were brushed from human airway epithelium via fiberoptic bronchoscopy. In 28 endobronchial biopsies, healthy smoker cilia length was reduced by 15% compared to nonsmokers (p<0.05). In 39 air-dried samples of airway epithelial cells, smoker cilia length was reduced by 13% compared to nonsmokers (p<0.0001). Analysis of the length of individual, detached cilia in 27 samples showed that smoker cilia length was reduced by 9% compared to nonsmokers (p<0.05). Finally, in 16 fully hydrated, unfixed samples, smoker cilia length was reduced 7% compared to nonsmokers (p<0.05). Using genome-wide analysis of airway epithelial gene expression we identified 6 cilia-related genes whose expression levels were significantly reduced in healthy smokers compared to healthy nonsmokers.Conclusions/SignificanceModels predict that a reduction in cilia length would reduce mucociliary clearance, suggesting that smoking-associated shorter airway epithelial cilia play a significant role in the pathogenesis of smoking-induced lung disease.

Neutrophil elastase (NE) activity is increased in many diseases. Other families of proteases, including cathepsins and matrix metalloproteases (MMPs), are also present at elevated levels in similar disease conditions. We postulated that NE could induce expression of cathepsins and MMPs in human macrophages. NE exposure resulted in macrophages, producing significantly greater amounts of cathepsin B and latent and active MMP-2. Cathepsin B and MMP-2 activities were decreased in Pseudomonas-infected NE knockout mice compared with wild-type littermates. We also demonstrate that NE can activate NF-κB in macrophages, and inhibition of NF-κB resulted in a reduction of NE-induced cathepsin B and MMP-2. Also, inhibition of TLR-4 or transfection of macrophages with dominant-negative IL-1R-associated kinase-1 resulted in a reduction of NE-induced cathepsin B and MMP-2. This study describes for the first time a novel hierarchy among proteases whereby a serine protease up-regulates expression of MMPs and cathepsins. This has important implications for therapeutic intervention in protease-mediated diseases.

Rationale: Epidemiologic data demonstrate that individuals exposed to low levels of tobacco smoke have decrements in lung function and higher risk for lung disease compared with unexposed individuals. Although this risk is small, low-level tobacco smoke exposure is so widespread, it is a significant public health concern. Objectives: To identify biologic correlates of this risk we hypothesized that, compared with unexposed individuals, individuals exposed to low levels of tobacco smoke have biologic changes in the small airway epithelium, the site of the first abnormalities associated with smoking. Methods: Small airway epithelium was obtained by bronchoscopy from 121 individuals; microarrays were used to assess genome-wide gene expression; urine nicotine and cotinine were used to categorize subjects as ''nonsmokers,'' ''active smokers,'' and ''low exposure.'' Gene expression data were used to determine the threshold and induction half maximal level (ID 50 ) of urine nicotine and cotinine at which the small airway epithelium showed abnormal responses. Measurements and Main Results: There was no threshold of urine nicotine without a small airway epithelial response, and only slightly above detectable urine cotinine threshold with a small airway epithelium response. The ID 50 for nicotine was 25 ng/ml and for cotinine it was 104 ng/ml. Conclusions: The small airway epithelium detects and responds to low levels of tobacco smoke with transcriptome modifications. This provides biologic correlates of epidemiologic studies linking lowlevel tobacco smoke exposure to lung health risk, identifies the genes most sensitive to tobacco smoke, and defines thresholds at which the lung epithelium responds to low levels of tobacco smoke.

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