Suppression of cigarette smoke induced MMP1 expression by selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors.

Globally, COPD remains a major cause of disability and death. In the United States alone, it is estimated that approximately 14 million people suffer from the disease. Given the high disease burden and requirement for chronic, long-term medical care associated with COPD, it is essential that new disease modifying agents are developed to complement the symptomatic therapeutics currently available.

Mmp1a and Mmp1b are not functional orthologs to human MMP1 in cigarette smoke induced lung disease.

Matrix Metalloproteinase 1 (MMP1, collagenase-1) expression is implicated in a number of diseased states including emphysema and malignant tumors. The cigarette-smoke induced expression of this interstitial collegenase has been studied extensively and its inhibition proposed as a novel therapeutic treatment for tobacco related diseases such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and lung cancer. However, a limitation in MMP1 research is the inability to take advantage of natural in vivo studies as most research has been performed in vitro or via animal models expressing human forms of the gene due to the lack of a rodent ortholog of MMP1.