Potential impact of oxidative stress induced growth inhibitor 1 (OSGIN1) on airway epithelial cell autophagy in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)

In a recent study published in the journal Autophagy, Wang and colleagues identified OSGIN1, which encodes OSGIN1, as a novel smoke-inducible gene in the airway epithelium (1). The authors reported significant up-regulation of OSGIN1 mRNA in airway epithelial cells isolated from healthy smokers, compared to those from healthy non-smokers. Moreover, they demonstrated dose and time-dependent expression of OSGIN1 in primary human basal airway epithelial cells exposed to cigarette-smoke extract (CSE) in vitro. These findings raise the intriguing possibility that OSGIN1 may play a role in smoking-related lung diseases, such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).