Functional and biochemical effects on the lung following inhalation of cigarette smoke and its constituents. III. Serum antitrypsin and bronchomotor responses in rats

Cigarette smoke-induced pancreatic damage—experimental data

“…Experimentally, cigarette smoke-induced damages to anti-proteases increased the susceptibility of anti-proteases to be cleaved by proteases, further promoting a dysbalance between proteolytic and anti-proteolytic activity, because leukocyte elastase, the proteolytic counterpart, was less susceptible to inactivation by cigarette smoke components [46][47]. These mechanism could account for the decreased serum tryptic inhibitory capacity found in smokers and animals exposed to cigarette smoke and are likely to contribute to pancreatic damage [41,[48][49].…”