ArticlePloS one2009
Smoking is associated with shortened airway cilia.
Article in PloS one, 2009. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 120 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
120 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 221 citations in OpenAlex.
- Lung function improvement following smoking cessation in chronic respiratory conditions: A meta-analytic approach.The Journal of international medical research · 2025Pooled it
- Advances in Molecular Research of Tracheobronchial Tree Aging: A Systematic Review.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Pooled it
- Radiologist and AI performance in detecting mucus plugs on chest CT.European radiology · 2026Article
- Notch signaling stabilizes lengths of motile cilia in multiciliated cells in the lung.Life science alliance · 2026Article
- MI-181 enhances ciliation and cilia length in a cigarette smoke exposed airway epithelial model.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- ARMC2 loss impairs cilia structure and leads to primary ciliary dyskinesia symptoms in mouse organs.Frontiers in cell and developmental biology · 2026Article
- Research Progress on the Mechanisms of High Mucus Secretion in the Airway: A Scoping Review.International journal of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease · 2026Article
- Respiratory Ciliary Beat Frequency in COPD: Balancing Oxidative Stress and Pharmacological Treatment.Antioxidants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Association of Mucus Plugging and Body Mass Index in Patients With Advanced COPD GOLD 3/4 With Emphysema.Chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases (Miami, Fla.) · 2025Article
- EWAS in COPD by biomass-burning smoke exposure identifies low levels of endothelin-1 by hypermethylation of EDN1.Epigenomics · 2025Article
- Unflavored electronic cigarette exposure induces alterations in airway ciliary structure and function.Respiratory research · 2025Article
- Silicon Carbide Nanowires Impair Mucociliary Clearance-Mediated Innate Immunity in Primary Human Bronchial Epithelial Cells.ACS nano · 2025Article
- Effect of Smoking on Electron Microscopic Structure of Nasal Mucosa.Indian journal of otolaryngology and head and neck surgery : official publication of the Association of Otolaryngologists of India · 2025Article
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- Article
- Review
- Single-cell transcriptomics reveals e-cigarette vapor-induced airway epithelial remodeling and injury.Respiratory research · 2024Article
- Ciliary Function, Antigen Stasis and Asthma.International journal of molecular sciences · 2024Review
- Understanding the Risk Factors and Pathogenesis of Disseminated Nocardiosis in Immunocompromised Patients.Cureus · 2024Article
- Loss of p73 Expression Contributes to Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease.American journal of respiratory and critical care medicine · 2024Article
60 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundWhereas cilia damage and reduced cilia beat frequency have been implicated as causative of reduced mucociliary clearance in smokers, theoretically mucociliary clearance could also be affected by cilia length. Based on models of mucociliary clearance predicting that cilia length must exceed the 6-7 microm airway surface fluid depth to generate force in the mucus layer, we hypothesized that cilia height may be decreased in airway epithelium of normal smokers compared to nonsmokers. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL
findingsCilia length in normal nonsmokers and smokers was evaluated in aldehyde-fixed, paraffin-embedded endobronchial biopsies, and air-dried and hydrated samples were brushed from human airway epithelium via fiberoptic bronchoscopy. In 28 endobronchial biopsies, healthy smoker cilia length was reduced by 15% compared to nonsmokers (p<0.05). In 39 air-dried samples of airway epithelial cells, smoker cilia length was reduced by 13% compared to nonsmokers (p<0.0001). Analysis of the length of individual, detached cilia in 27 samples showed that smoker cilia length was reduced by 9% compared to nonsmokers (p<0.05). Finally, in 16 fully hydrated, unfixed samples, smoker cilia length was reduced 7% compared to nonsmokers (p<0.05). Using genome-wide analysis of airway epithelial gene expression we identified 6 cilia-related genes whose expression levels were significantly reduced in healthy smokers compared to healthy nonsmokers. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Models predict that a reduction in cilia length would reduce mucociliary clearance, suggesting that smoking-associated shorter airway epithelial cilia play a significant role in the pathogenesis of smoking-induced lung disease.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.