A new drug under experiment has shown to protect mice from emphysema i.e. respiratory damage caused by cigarettes.

The research, which was conducted on mice, was lead by Shyam Biswal, an associate professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore.

Biswal and colleagues studied the drug compound CDDO-Im, which induces the Nrf2 gene that activates a host of antioxidant genes.  According to Biswal this antioxidant activation detoxifies the harmful molecules which cause lung damage.

Mice were exposed to cigarette smoke for six months. This was done to simulate the lung damage as in emphysema.

It was observed that the mice which were given the drug were protected against lung damage. They also showed a dramatic improvement in heart function as compared to the untreated mice.

The finding of the new research shows a ray of hope for patients suffering from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). It is a chronic progressive lung disease which involves both emphysema and chronic obstructive bronchitis. It also proves that strategies aimed at targeting the Nrf2 pathway might be helpful in inhibiting the development of emphysema.

"The result demonstrates that this strategy is effective in the preclinical model of emphysema," Biswal said.