A new study that evaluated the effect of roflumilast on normal human bronchial epithelial (NHBE) cells exposed to cigarette smoke found that it can help lungs, which have been damaged by smoking, work better.

The researchers began their study by culturing NHBE cells from non-smokers, then exposed those cells to cigarette smoke with a “Vitrocell VC-10 smoking robot.” Several tests were performed to measure the effect of roflumilast on CBF and CFTR function in both cells that had and had not been exposed to smoke.

The HCP Live news report notes that roflumilast, a phosphodiesterase (PDE) inhibitor, ““has been approved in the United States and Europe to reduce the risk of COPD exacerbations in patients with severe COPD associated with chronic bronchitis and a history of exacerbations.”

The researchers write, “Our results show that inhibition of PDE4 with roflumilast improves parameters of mucociliary clearance in NHBE cells.” The results provide some information “on basic non-inflammatory related mechanisms as to why roflumilast positively influences COPD in patients,” as indicated on the HCP Live report. The study actually showed that “CBF increases more than 50% in smoke-exposed cells in the presence of roflumilast.”

Source: HCP Live