Broccoli Compound May Help COPD Patients

Tag : broccoli

COPD is the fourth-leading cause of death in the United States,affecting more than 16 million people, and is often the result oflong-term smoking. There is no cure for this deadly disease, andcurrent drugs do not slow its progression.
"In COPD, there is critical loss of antioxidant systems, whichprotect against oxidative stress and inflammation," explained leadresearcher Shyam Biswal, an associate professor in the departmentof environmental health sciences and the division of pulmonary andcritical care medicine at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, inBaltimore.
"Even though there is a loss of this system, you can substantiallyrestore it with an activator for this pathway," Biswal said. Acompound in broccoli called sulforaphane has been shown effectivein restoring antioxidant gene activity. "So this could be a new wayof doing therapy," Biswal theorized.
The study is published Sept. 15 in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine .
One of the things that was not understood before this work was whyCOPD patients carry a lot of oxidative stress, Biswal said. "Now weknow the defense system in the lungs is getting lost -- but thereis a hope that you can turn it on," he said. "Now that we know thetarget, we have to develop a therapy and see how effective it is."
Biswal noted that the big problem in COPD is not repairing thedamage done to the lungs but rather preventing bacterial infection."Most COPD patients manifest infection in the lungs and they diefrom that," he said.
What the researchers found is that a gene called NRF2 (nuclearfactor erythroid-derived 2-related factor 2) works as a master genethat turns on many antioxidant and pollutant-detoxifying genes thatprotect the lungs from environmental pollutants, such as cigarettesmoke.
However, levels of the protein produced by NRF2, and one of itsregulators, DJ-1, are lower in COPD patients compared with patientswithout the disease. those levels are associated with the severityof the condition.
For this study, Biswal's group took lung tissue samples fromsmokers with and without COPD. The researchers compared the samplesto see if there was a difference in the levels of NRF2 betweenpeople with and without COPD.
They also looked at levels of two biochemical regulators of NRF2,KEAP1 (which inhibits NRF2) and DJ-1 (which stabilizes it).
Biswal's team found that COPD patients had significantly lowerlevels of NRF2-dependent antioxidants, increased oxidative stressmarkers and a significant decrease in NRF2 protein, compared withnon-COPD patients.
They also found that both groups had similar levels of KEAP1, butamong COPD patients levels of DJ-1 was significantly lower. All ofthis indicates that NRF2 was there, but had been degraded.
So, agents that target NRFS -- including the sulforaphane found inbroccoli -- might someday be harnessed to give the naturalantioxidant systems of COPD patients a boost.
These strategies might prove effective in treating the disease,Biswal said. "It could be more effective, but a lot of study needsto be done," he said.
Dr. Norman H. Edelman, a professor of preventive medicine, internalmedicine, physiology and biophysics at the State University of NewYork, Stony Brook, said the research is promising but far fromhaving any treatment implications.
"The finding is of scientific importance because it may reveal acommon pathway for antioxidant deficiency in COPD lungs," Edelmansaid. "Despite the talk of having clinical relevance, I would thinkthat this is a long way off," he said.
SOURCES: Shyam Biswal, Ph.D., associate professor, department ofenvironmental health sciences and the division of pulmonary andcritical care medicine, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine,Baltimore; Norman H. Edelman, M.D., professor, preventive medicine,internal medicine, physiology & biophysics, State University ofNew York, Stony Brook, N.Y.; Sept. 15, 2008, American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine
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