title: The Expression of NOX4 in Smooth Muscles of Small Airway Correlates with the Disease Severity of COPD.
abstract: Airway smooth muscle (ASM) remodeling is a hallmark in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and nicotinamide-adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH) oxidases (NOXs) produced reactive oxygen species (ROS) play a crucial role in COPD pathogenesis. In the present study, the expression of NOX4 and its correlation with the ASM hypertrophy/hyperplasia, clinical pulmonary functions, and the expression of transforming growth factorβ(TGF-β) in the ASM of COPD small airways were investigated by semiquantitative morphological and/or immunohistochemistry staining methods. The results showed that an elevated expression of NOX4 and TGF-β, along with an increased volume of ASM mass, was found in the ASM of small airways in COPD patients. The abundance of NOX4 protein in the ASM was increased with disease severity and inversely correlated with the pulmonary functions in COPD patients. In addition, the expression of NOX4 and ASM markerα-SMA was colocalized, and the increased NOX4 expression was found to accompany an upregulated expression of TGF-βin the ASM of small airways of COPD lung. These results indicate that NOX4 may be a key regulator in ASM remodeling of small airway, in part through a mechanism interacting with TGF-βsignaling in the pathogenesis of COPD, which warrants further investigation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, The General Hospital of Ningxia Medical University, Yinchuan 750004, China; Ningxia Medical University, Yinchuan 750004, China; Binzhou People's Hospital, Binzhou, Shandong 256600, China.
authors.forename: Xianyan
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-5208-7799
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, The General Hospital of Ningxia Medical University, Yinchuan 750004, China; Ningxia Medical University, Yinchuan 750004, China.
authors.forename: Binwei
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-1153-9322
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Hao
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, The General Hospital of Ningxia Medical University, Yinchuan 750004, China.
authors.forename: Ailing
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-0107-5851
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.affiliation: Department of Thoracic Surgery, The General Hospital of Ningxia Medical University, Yinchuan 750004, China.
authors.forename: Jinxi
authors.identifier: 0000-0001-8377-5474
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: He
authors.affiliation: Institute of Human Stem Cell Research at the General Hospital of Ningxia Medical University, Yinchuan, Ningxia 750004, China.
authors.forename: Xiaoming
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-3902-9105
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, The General Hospital of Ningxia Medical University, Yinchuan 750004, China.
authors.forename: Juan
authors.identifier: 0000-0001-5801-9124
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chen