A Disintegrin and Metalloproteinase Domain-8: A Novel Protective Proteinase in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

What is it about?

Proteinases have been thought to promote the development of COPD (the proteinase-anti-proteinase hypothesis). However, the contributions of ADAM proteinases to the pathogenesis of COPD have not been explored. This study shows that ADAM8 staining is reduced in the lungs of COPD patients and cigarette smoke (CS)-exposed mice, and that Adam8 deficiency leads to exaggerate COPD-like disease in CS-exposed mice. Thus, our study puts a new twist on the old proteinase-anti-proteinase hypothesis by identifying ADAM8 as the first proteinase to protect the lung from CS-induced COPD-like disease.

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