Experimental drug fends off emphysema in mice
Tests suggest edible drug might help ex-smokers
By Nathan Seppa
A compound that revs up the production of homegrown antioxidant proteins in the body prevents emphysema from developing in mice exposed to cigarette smoke for six months, a new study finds. The study is the latest in a series to hint at big things for the experimental drug CDDO-imidazole, or CDDO-Im. Separately, scientists are testing a similar drug against cancer in people.
The new findings appear online Dec. 22 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Even though the study focuses on emphysema in mice, the researchers suggest the drug could work in people by delaying or preventing chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, which encompasses emphysema and chronic bronchitis and is the fourth most common cause of death in the United States.
CDDO-Im jump-starts a molecule called Nrf2 that in turn switches on a host of genes that encode antioxidants in the body, studies of human cells and in animals suggest. Shyam Biswal, a pulmonary toxicologist at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, says these antioxidants seem to counteract the damage caused by exposure to inhalation of cigarette smoke.