Impact of cigarette smoke on T and B cell responsiveness.
Although its direct effects cannot be discounted, tobacco's effects on the immune system have been proposed to play a key role in mediating its deleterious health impact. Studies in rats using high levels of smoke exposure have suggested that tobacco smoke exhausts cellular signal transduction cascades, making lymphocytes unresponsive to stimulation. In the present study, we show that purified B or T cells, and total lymphocytes from the lungs, lymph nodes and spleens of smoke-exposed mice fluxed calcium, proliferated, and secreted immunoglobulin or IFN-gamma similarly to control mice when stimulated with ligands including anti-IgM, and anti-CD3. Importantly, we recapitulated these findings in PBMCs from human smokers; cells from long-term smokers and never-smokers proliferated equivalently when stimulated ex vivo. Previous reports of lymphocyte unresponsiveness in rats are inconsistent with these findings, and may reflect a phenomenon observed only at levels of smoke exposure well above those seen in actual human smokers.
Department of Pathology and Molecular Medicine, Centre for Gene Therapeutics, McMaster University, 1200 Main Street West, Hamilton, Ont., Canada L8N 3Z5.
Caleb C J
CC
Zavitz
Gordon J
GJ
Gaschler
Clinton S
CS
Robbins
Fernando M
FM
Botelho
P Gerard
PG
Cox
Martin R
MR
Stampfli
D000818:Animals; D001402:B-Lymphocytes / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000276:immunology; D002118:Calcium / Q000378:metabolism; D049109:Cell Proliferation / Q000187:drug effects; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008168:Lung / Q000166:cytology / Q000276:immunology; D008198:Lymph Nodes / Q000166:cytology / Q000276:immunology; D008213:Lymphocyte Activation / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000276:immunology; D016131:Lymphocyte Subsets / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000276:immunology; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D051381:Rats; D012906:Smoke / Q000009:adverse effects*; D012907:Smoking / Q000276:immunology; D013154:Spleen / Q000166:cytology / Q000276:immunology; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000276:immunology
D012906:Smoke; D002118:Calcium