Similarly, our studies observed that exposure to cigarette smoke induced emphysema (data shown in the Additional file 1), while increased the total cells number counts and number of AMs in BAL fluid, decreased AMs phagocytosis and AMs viability, and increased IL-8 and LTB4 releases by AMs in vivo and in vitro. The gene discussed is CXCL8; the disease is pulmonary emphysema.