Cigarette smoke (CS) has many damaging effects on the body, and the chronic inhalation of cigarette smoke can change immunological functions through impact on both innate and adaptive immunity. The incidences of many diseases are affected by the adverse effects of cigarette smoke on the immune system, and the induction of an inflammatory response, which affects several tissues and organs. On this basis, a comparison of smokers′ and non-smokers′ immunoglobulin levels could provide valuable insights into the mechanisms of smoking related diseases. Although the effects of cigarette smoking on humoral and cellular immunity have been investigated previously, the results have varied between the studies, and therefore more research is still required. The aim of this study was to determine whether the levels of immunoglobulin (Ig) isotypes are different in the serum and saliva of non-smoking individuals compared to smoking individuals. An examination of serum and saliva would provide information on the effects of cigarette smoke systemically and in the oral mucosa, respectively. The effects of cigarette smoke extract on B-cell secretions were also examined to establish whether cigarette smoke components can have direct effects on immunoglobulin production by B cells. In order to determine Ig isotype levels, antibody microarray techniques were established and calibrated for determining the sample concentrations of IgM, IgG, IgA and IgD. The results showed that smoking has different effects on systemic and salivary immunoglobulin levels. In the serum, smokers had decreased levels of IgG and IgD, but increased IgM and IgA levels compared to non-smokers. However, in the saliva smokers had decreased levels of IgG, IgD, and IgM, whereas there were increased levels of IgA in smokers’ saliva. As CS has been found to influence the serum and salivary levels of Ig isotypes ex-vivo, the mechanisms underlying these effects were investigated in vitro to determine whether the changes were as a result of a direct effect of the CS on B-cells. This study has shown that CS had deleterious effects on the production and the levels, of Ig isotypes. These results support the concept that CS is related to diseases, and more research is necessary in this field.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:719703 |
| Date | January 2017 |
| Creators | Tarbiah, Nesrin |
| Publisher | University of Nottingham |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/43488/ |
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