Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: UMLS:C0034067 (emphysema)
 11,506 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Smoking habits have no differentiating effect on the functional activity of protease inhibitor (alpha 1PI) in the serum and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF). In the BALF, the trypsin-inhibitory capacity TIC/alpha 1PI ratio is significantly greater in patients with emphysema than in non-emphysematous subjects. PIC/alpha 1PI ratios that are greater than 1 demonstrate the existence of additional antiproteases in the lower respiratory tract.
 ...
PMID:[Trypsin and pancreatic elastase-inhibitory capacity of serum and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid of smokers, ex-smokers and nonsmokers]. 236 87

Both the clinical course of the homozygous alpha 1-PI deficiency and also the pulmonary function and measured clinical parameters in these children revealed very marked inter-individual fluctuations. In one child, the lung function revealed certain signs of incipient pulmonary emphysema. The biochemical parameters of two children revealed TIC/alpha 1-PI- and PEIC/alpha 1-PI ratios greater than 1. This indicates that, in addition to alpha 1-PI, further inhibitors may develop a compensatory effect.
 ...
PMID:[Clinical aspects, diagnostic lung function and biochemical parameters in children with homozygous alpha 1-antitrypsin deficiency]. 236 24

When alpha-1-PI is oxidized, it loses its ability to inhibit porcine elastase, although it retains its TIC. Therefore the ratio of TIC to EIC increases in proportion to the degree of oxidation of the inhibitor. We have developed a rapid procedure for determining the percentage of oxidized alpha-1-PI in plasma or serum based on the ratio of TIC to EIC of alpha-1-PI in these tissues. The TIC/EIC ratio is not influenced by the other proteins in serum nor by the concentration of alpha-1-PI. When this technique was adapted to measure to proportion of oxidized alpha-1-PI in the serum of young adult, healthy smokers and nonsmokers, 23% oxidized inhibitor was found in the smokers' sera, whereas no oxidized alpha-1-PI was detectable in sera of nonsmokers. Thus smoking leads to oxidation damage to circulating alpha-1-PI. Reduction of the EIC of the alpha-1-PI in the serum of smokers was compensated by a 1.43-fold increase in their serum alpha-1-PI titers; however, these data do not exclude the possibility of local depletion of the absolute EIC in the extravascular space of the lungs. This assay for oxidized alpha-1-PI may be useful in studies of the relationship between oxidation of alpha-1-PI and the development of pulmonary emphysema.
 ...
PMID:Determination of oxidized alpha-1-proteinase inhibitor in serum. 617 85