Antioxidant pharmacological therapies for COPD

Increased oxidative stress occurs in the lungs and systemically in COPD, which plays a role in many of the pathogenic mechanisms in COPD. Hence, targeting local lung and systemic oxidative stress with agents that modulate the antioxidants/redox system or boost endogenous antioxidants would be a useful therapeutic approach in COPD. Thiol antioxidants (N-acetyl-L-cysteine [NAC] and N-acystelyn, carbocysteine, erdosteine, and fudosteine) have been used to increase lung thiol content. Modulation of cigarette smoke (CS) induced oxidative stress and its consequent cellular changes have also been reported to be effected by synthetic molecules, such as spin traps (alpha-phenyl-N-tert-butyl nitrone), catalytic antioxidants (superoxide dismutase [ECSOD] mimetics), porphyrins, and lipid peroxidation and protein carbonylation blockers/inhibitors (edaravone and lazaroids/tirilazad). Preclinical and clinical trials have shown that these antioxidants can reduce oxidative stress, affect redox and glutathione biosynthesis genes, and proinflammatory gene expression. In this review the approaches to enhance lung antioxidants in COPD and the potential beneficial effects of antioxidant therapy on the course of the disease are discussed.