NQO1 and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: In humans, it has been reported that current smoking increased mRNA expression of NFE2L2 and associated genes including NQO1 and HMOX1in bronchial epithelium (Sidhaye et al. 2019), while NFE2L2 mRNA expression and associated genes were increased in PBMCs from mild COPD patients (Fratta Pasini et al. 2016, 2020).