The Apoptosis And Caspase-3Protein Expression In Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Diseases

Objective：To explore the role of the cell apoptosis and caspase-3inchronic obstructive pulmonary diseases（COPD）. Methods：To respectivelycollect the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid of24cases of smoking patientssuffering from COPD and19cases of non-smoking patients suffering fromCOPD,24cases of healthy volunteers; TUNEL was used to test the apoptosisand Immunohistochemistry was applied to examine the expression of caspase-3protein. Results：1the apoptotic index of smoker and non-smoker sufferingfrom COPD was31.22±8.45,29.30±7.11，higher than that in health volunteers,so a significant difference exist（sP＜0.01）.2the caspase-3protein expression ofsmoker and non-smoker suffering from COPD was5.74±1.83、5.39±1.26, higherthan that in health volunteers, so a significant difference exists（P＜0.01）.3theexpression of caspase-3protein and apoptosis in the COPD patients has nothingto do with smoking（P＞0.05）.Conclusion：Apoptosis probably plays animportant role in the development of chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases,caspase-3has a close relation to chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases.