Pill to control smoking damage to be developed

Boston, United states, January 14: The negative effects of smoking could be alleviated in future with the help of a pill. Researchers are very close to turning the dream pill into reality.

For the research purposes, Avrum Spira and his colleagues at the Boston University School of Medicine took into account 10 smokers and an equal amount of non-smokers. Specimens of cells from the airways of these people were then collected.

The researchers were able to determine 28 disturbed microRNAs in smokers. These are single stranded RNA molecules that control gene expression.

Spira was quoted as saying, “These microRNAs serve to regulate the gene expression changes occurring in people who smoke and who get smoking related diseases, including cancerdefine.”

These 28 molecules are produced in huge amounts in the cells, lining the airways of smokers. It is being tried, if the amount of these molecules can be restored to that of non-smokers, so that chronic smokers can have better chances of improving their health. Moreover, this might make it possible for people to smoke without causing any major damage to their health.

Out of the several microRNAs that have been identified, there is one called mir-218. It seems to control the genesdefine, which generally guard lungs and airway cells from the oxidative affliction caused by smoke. The other microRNAs found by the researchers are useful in controlling the production and growth of airway cells.

Spira added, “We think the level of activity [of mir-218] is crucial in how a smoker defends his or herself against injury and potential development of lung disease.”

The researchers believe that administering supplements of mir-218 to people who smoke, or evolving a drug that helps to cure the perturbed microRNAs, can go a long way in reducing the harmful effects of smoking.

“We might be able to alter the host’s response to tobacco smoke so that it is a protective one,” said Spira. Furthermore, a test can be developed that helps to determine how much harm the smokers are doing to their lungs.

In the current study, Spira and his colleagues took the samples of cells from the airways of the volunteers using a small brush attached to a flexible plastic tube. Spira disclosed that cells lining the mouth and nose might show the same changes when exposed to smoke.

Spira explained, “We could use these epithelial cells as a kind of canary in the goldmine to tell us what is going on deeper in the lungs.”

“Based on the activity of these microRNAs, we could potentially decide whether someone is responding appropriately or not to the toxin, and is therefore at higher risk of developing disease further down the road.”