WVU receives grant to study secondhand smoke

A West Virginia University Researcher and his team received a $100,000 biomedical research grant from the American Lung Association to study changes in the air caused by exposure to secondhand smoke early in life.

The goal of the American Lung Association Nationwide Award and Grant Program is to foster laboratory, patient-centered and social-behavioral research designed to find cures and prevent and relieve the suffering associated with lung disease, according to the ALA website.

Zhong-Xin Wu, WVU researcher and member of the Translational Tobacco Reduction Research Program, will study the effects of secondhand smoke and if it leads to asthma.

The team will focus on nerve growth factors, which are essential in promoting and maintaining growth and survival of the nervous system, said Angela Jones, a public relations specialist for WVU Hospitals.

"Secondhand smoke is an environmental trigger factor that leads to airway inflammation and asthma symptoms in susceptible individuals," Wu wrote in a press release.

"Disruption of normal production and release of nerve growth factor after inhaling smoke results in changes in the airways, which leads to disease-related abnormalities in the respiratory system," Jones said.

Wu said the information gained from the study is particularly important in West Virginia, where 27.3 percent of pregnant women smoke,

compared to the significantly lower national average of 10 percent.

"The children of women who smoke during pregnancy and immediately after giving birth are at an increased risk of experiencing respiratory illnesses later in life. Studies show that the chances of developing or worsening childhood asthma increase in children of mothers who smoke," Wu said.

It is believed that supporting researchers at this critical juncture is essential to ensure long-term commitments to lung disease research, as well as to maintain an adequate supply of scientists dedicated to lung disease, according to the American Lung Association.

The Translational Tobacco Reduction Research Program is a joint program of the Mary Babb Randolph Cancer Center and the West Virginia Prevention Research Center at WVU.