In their September American Journal of Respiratory Cell and Molecular Biology article, Josiah E. Radder and colleagues report on testing mice of 34 inbred strains for susceptibility to cigarette smoke-induced emphysema. They found that susceptibility varied widely, from having almost no susceptibility to being highly susceptible.

The researchers then tested for a genetic association with susceptibility and integrated their findings with a meta-analysis of human COPD genome-wide association studies.

The authors identified the gene Abi3bp as “a candidate gene contributing to emphysema susceptibility” and found that there was a 100-fold greater level of expression of this gene in the most susceptible mouse strain, compared to the most resistant strain.

The article is titled, "Variable Susceptibility to Cigarette Smoke-Induced Emphysema in 34 Inbred Strains of Mice Implicates Abi3bp in Emphysema Susceptibility."