"Choi started researching a protein called heme oxygenase, or HO-1. It’s an enzyme that converts heme, a central element of hemoglobin, into a slew of chemicals: iron, a pigment called biliverdin that’s responsible for the greenish color of bruises, and — last but not least — carbon monoxide. Every day our bodies naturally generate about 10 milliliters of carbon monoxide through this process.
It’s critically important: Mice that have been genetically engineered without HO-1 die young from multi-organ failure...
“The first three to five years were hell. I thought my career might be over,” Choi said. “But I believed in it. In research, you have to believe your data.”
Even Dr. Claude Piantadosi, Choi’s senior attending physician from his residency at Duke University, had serious doubts. Piantadosi did his own study and found that carbon monoxide had no protective effect on rats with lung injury. He wrote a paper rebutting Choi’s 1999 findings.
But the question continued to intrigue Piantadosi, and he took a closer look at how carbon monoxide interacted with cells. He found that while exposure to low doses of the gas stressed the mitochondria, the overall cell did seem to respond positively. So Piantadosi has come around; he now believes that small doses of carbon monoxide can indeed stimulate protective responses in the lung.
Now, Piantadosi and Choi are collaborating on a Phase 1 clinical trial that aims to investigate the safety of low-dose carbon monoxide on approximately 48 patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome, a life-threatening lung condition."
So, interesting, but this article was SO frustrating for me - I want to cell biology here!
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