Smoking similar to cystic fibrosis: Research

Smoking cigarettes is a lot like having cystic fibrosis when it comes to how it affects your lungs.

Cystic fibrosis is a life-threatening disease caused by the improper movement of salt and water in the cells lining the lungs. It causes a thick mucus to form in the lungs, where bacteria gets trapped. Those bacteria are able to thrive in the mucus, sometimes causing fatal infections.

That's also what happens to your lungs when you smoke cigarettes, according to new research from the Cystic Fibrosis/Pulmonary Research and Treatment Center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

The researchers tested cigarette smoke on human subjects and lab-grown cells in an attempt to find out how smoke affects a protein called CFTR, which helps keep the lungs hydrated. They found lungs exposed to cigarette smoke experience a 60% decrease in the essential protein.

They also exposed human lung cells to either cigarette smoke or clean air. The smokers' lungs showed significantly lower liquid levels than those exposed to air.

"We hope this study will highlight the importance of airway hydration in terms of lung health and that it will help provide a road map for the development of novel therapies for the treatment of smoking-related lung disease," said researcher Robert Tarran.

"But the bottom line remains: The most effective treatment for smoker's cough, or worse, is to quit smoking, now," noted Dr. Gerald Weissmann, editor-in-chief of The FASEB Journal, where the study appeared.