Transcriptional adaptation of human airway epithelium upon cigarette smoking

Despite the well-known adverse health effects, smoking is still one of the leading causes of preventable death worldwide. Smoking has shown to significantly alter gene transcription in blood, but limited studies have assessed the effects of smoking on structural lung cells. Here, we investigated how the airway wall responds and adapts to chronic smoke exposure by changing airway epithelial transcriptional profiles in response to cigarette smoke exposure, using RNA-Seq. This study identifies panels of genes, related to the response of airway epithelial cells to cigarette smoke. Furthermore, our study shows especially luminal epithelial cells are affected by smoke and that the airways are epigenetically regulated to promote the expression of oxidative stress-response genes, which dampens the effects of chronic smoke exposure.