NOS2 and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: Increased expressions of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) have been observed in muscle tissues of cancer, AIDS, chronic heart failure, and COPD cachexia patients, suggesting that iNOS may be involved in the onset of cachexia under various conditions (Adams et al., 2003; Agusti et al., 2004; Ramamoorthy et al., 2009).