Dendritic Cells Spark Smoldering Inflammation In Smokers' Lungs
Wednesday, October 28, 2009 - 15:14
in Biology & Nature
Inflammation still ravages the lungs of some smokers years after they quit the habit. What sparks that smoldering destruction remained a mystery until researchers found that certain dendritic cells in the lung -- the cells that "present" a foreign antigen or protein to the immune system -- provoke production of destructive T-cells that attack a key protein called elastin, leading to death of lung tissue and emphysema.
