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UCSF TCORS: Quantification and Biomarkers of Short-Term Pulmonary Effects of Tobacco Smoke Exposure: Infection-Related Acute Lung Injury

UCSF TCORS: Quantification and Biomarkers of Short-Term Pulmonary Effects of Tobacco Smoke Exposure: Infection-Related Acute Lung Injury

Principal Investigator: Carolyn Calfee and Michael Matthay

Funding Mechanism: National Institutes of Health- TCORS Grant

ID number: 1P50CA180890-01

Award Date: 9/19/2013

Institution: University of California San Francisco

Additional research is needed to evaluate the link between smoking and acute lung injury (ALI), a common cause of acute respiratory failure in critically ill patients. This project will quantify, and identify biomarkers of, the short-term pulmonary effects of smoking and secondhand smoke exposure. Investigators will collect plasma specimens from 570 critically ill patients with severe infection (aged 18 and older) to measure biomarkers of cigarette smoke exposure and lung epithelial and endothelial injury, and will evaluate the impact of cigarette smoke exposure in mouse models. Specific aims are: (1) to quantify the strength, dose-response curve, and time course of the association between cigarette smoke exposure, as measured by validated biomarkers, and the development of ALI in patients admitted to the hospital with severe infection; (2) to test the effects of cigarette smoke exposure and varying nicotine content on the development of infection-related ALI in mouse models, with a focus on identifying plasma biomarkers of tobacco-related lung epithelial or endothelial injury that can then be tested in critically ill patients; and (3) to validate the association between biomarkers of tobacco-related lung epithelial and endothelial injury and the development of ALI in critically ill patients with severe infection. The results of this project will inform more accurate models of the economic and public health effects of cigarette smoke exposure. In addition, these data will identify biomarkers of tobacco-related ALI that may be used in future toxicity studies.

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