Under different experimental conditions our results agree with a series of recent studies showing a decline of Nrf2 expression in whole lung tissue and alveolar macrophages of patients with pulmonary emphysema [29] and in pulmonary macrophages of current smokers and patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease [30], [31] a pathological situation in which oxidant-antioxidant imbalance is strongly implicated [32], [33]. Here, NFE2L2 is linked to pulmonary emphysema.