Nov 11
7
New research shows the role of short Telomeres in emphysema, a lung disease mostly developed in people who smoke cigarettes. This is a deadly disease for which no treatment has been found yet.
In emphysema, the alveoli, which are the small air sacs that exchange oxygen in the lungs, are lost. This means less oxygen can be inhaled and therefore less oxygen is available in the body. This is most commonly found in older people who smoke and sometimes, yet very rarely, in non-smokers.
This disease is one of the top 10 causes of death in the United States with growing numbers. Mary Armanios, MD, assistant professor of oncology at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine said: “We found that in mice that have short telomeres, there was a significant increased risk of developing emphysema after exposure to cigarette smoke.” The study was lead by Dr Armanios and her colleagues. The mice were exposed to cigarette smoke for 6 hours a day, 5 days a week for six months.
They tested mice with short Telomeres as well as mice with long Telomeres. When analyzing the lung tissue and pulmonary function of in the mice with short Telomeres, they see a development of emphysema although they had no lung disease at baseline. The mice with long Telomeres did not develop any lung disease.
“We found that cells with damaged DNA stopped dividing, and lung cells with too much damage could no longer be repaired, thus contributing to the emphysema,” she continued. “These results are one of the clearest examples of telomere length, which is an inherited factor, interacting with an environmental insult to cause disease. In fact, our results in mice suggest that short telomeres might contribute to how cigarette smoke accelerates aging in the lung in some individuals.”
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