Caveolin-1-Derived Peptide Attenuates Cigarette Smoke-Induced Airway and Alveolar Epithelial Injury

Investigators found that the expression of caveolin-1, tumor suppressor protein; p53, and plasminogen activator inhibitor-1, one of the downstream targets of p53, were markedly increased in airway epithelial cells as well as in type II alveolar epithelial cells from the lungs of patients with COPD or wild-type mice with cigarette smoke-induced lung injury.