Overall, our data strongly suggest that PARP-1 plays a critical role in elastase induced lung inflammation and emphysema, and thus may be a new drug target candidate in COPD.
Genetic studies indicated that <i>miR-223</i> deficiency was associated with severe lung inflammation, whereas pulmonary overexpression of <i>miR-223</i> in mice resulted in protection during acute lung injury induced by mechanical ventilation or by infection with <i>Staphylococcus aureus</i> Studies of putative <i>miR-223</i> gene targets implicated repression of poly(adenosine diphosphate-ribose) polymerase-1 (PARP-1) in the <i>miR-223</i>-dependent attenuation of lung inflammation.
Here, we show that hPARP-1 mice exhibit impaired survival rates accompanied by reduced hair growth and premature development of several inflammation and age-associated pathologies, such as adiposity, kyphosis, nephropathy, dermatitis, pneumonitis, cardiomyopathy, hepatitis, and anemia.