Smoking-dependent reprogramming of alveolar macrophage polarization: implication for pathogenesis of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

ABSTRACT: When exposed to a specific microenvironment, macrophages acquire either M1- or M2-polarized phenotypes associated with inflammation and tissue remodeling, respectively. Alveolar macrophages (AM) directly interact with environmental stimuli such as cigarette smoke, the major risk factor for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), a disease characterized by lung inflammation and remodeling. Transcriptional profiling of AM obtained by bronchoalveolar lavage of 24 healthy nonsmokers, 34 healthy smokers, and 12 COPD smokers was performed to test the hypothesis whether smoking alters AM polarization, resulting in a disease-relevant activation phenotype. The analysis revealed that AM of healthy smokers exhibited a unique polarization pattern characterized by substantial suppression of M1-re

SUBMITTER: Shaykhiev R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2873685 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature