Cigarette smoke synergistically enhances respiratory mucin induction by proinflammatory stimuli.

Pathogenic factors associated with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), such as cigarette smoke, proinflammatory cytokines, and bacterial infections, can individually induce respiratory mucins in vitro and in vivo. Since co-presence of these factors is common in lungs of patients with COPD, we hypothesized that cigarette smoke can amplify mucin induction by bacterial exoproducts and proinflammatory cytokines, resulting in mucin hyperproduction. We demonstrated that cigarette smoke extract (CSE) synergistically increased gene expression and protein production of MUC5AC mucin induced by LPS or TNF-alpha in human airway epithelial NCI-H292 cells.