Rhinovirus Infections in Smokers versus Normals

Summary

Human rhinovirus is also called the “common cold virus” because it causes at least half of all of the common colds experienced each year. In patients with asthma, getting a rhinovirus infection can also trigger asthma attacks. Current drugs used to treat asthma are not particularly effective during viral infections. Although the symptoms of the common cold are well known, we do not fully understand how the virus causes these symptoms, nor do we really know how it causes asthma attacks. The epithelial cell is the cell that lines the surface of your airways from your nose down to your lungs, and is also the cell type that gets infected by rhinovirus. At present, it is thought that the virus causes symptoms by changing epithelial cell biology in a way that causes airway inflammation. In order to examine how the virus causes inflammation, many earlier studies have used experimental infection with the virus and have measured various markers of inflammation.

Cigarette smokers have been reported to be more likely to get colds than non-smokers and asthmatic patients who smoke tend to have more acute attacks and do less well than asthmatics who do not smoke. It is not known why smokers do worse than non-smokers. It is possible that smokers get more inflammation than non-smokers. It is also possible that smokers do not mount a good protective antiviral response to defend against the virus.

About 24 healthy volunteers who do not have pre-existing immunity to the virus, and who do not have nasal allergies or asthma will be recruited for this study. Half will be smokers and half will be non- smokers.

The purpose of this study is to compare the levels of inflammatory chemicals, and the levels of protective antiviral proteins in the airways of healthy smokers and healthy non-smokers after infection with rhinovirus (the common cold virus).