Smokers' immune system suffers
Last reviewed: 07.06.2024
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People who smoke, or have smoked in the past, are more susceptible to all kinds of infections, and inflammatory processes in their bodies are much more intense.
Why do some people get sick less often and recover faster, while others get sick often, for a long time and with complications? Of course, immunity plays a huge role in this: some people have weak immunity, while others have strong immunity. This is due to both genetic features and all sorts of factors: ecology, nutrition, bad habits, and so on.
Cytokines, so-called signaling proteins, are exchanged in immune structures. The extent to which a cell can produce the necessary amount of cytokines directly affects the quality of immune defense.
Scientists set themselves the goal of analyzing the influence of external factors on the mechanisms of cytokine production. The ability of immunity genes, lifestyle and other parameters were studied in a number of patients, which were subsequently compared with changes in the level of cytokines - active participants in the body's defense. It was found that changes in cytokines varied from patient to patient. The main factors affecting these processes were: cytomegalovirus infection of latent type, obesity and... smoking.
The experts described the cytokines involved in such processes. Among them were those that control reactions innate immune defense, as well as those that regulate reactions of adaptive immunity. It is noteworthy that in smokers among the cytokines of innate immune defense there was more of a protein substance that enhances inflammatory processes.
Inflammation is one of the protective immune mechanisms, but if it is strong and prolonged, it acquires the status of a risk factor for the development of chronic pathologies, as well as oncology.
Increased inflammatory activity in smokers has been noted before, but only now scientists have been able to combine immune signaling molecules with specific infectious factors. For the same microbial or viral infection, the inflammatory process is always more intense in smokers than in non-smokers.
Remarkable: even when people quit smoking, the acquired immunity continues to suffer. Immunity of former smokers continues to react violently to infectious processes. In such cases, it is said about a lasting "imprint" from an unfavorable factor.
Thus, the state of inflammatory immune proteins in the body of a person who has stopped smoking is normalized - but only on the side of innate immune defense. Unfortunately, this does not apply to acquired immunity.
It is likely that scientists will develop some specific recommendations to stabilize the course of the inflammatory response. However, it is still important to stop the bad habit, and it should be done as early as possible.
Learn more at in Nature