It has been shown that in healthy individuals and smokers, corticosteroids inhibit the release of CXCL8, TNF-α and MMP-9 from macrophages, thereby alleviating the inflammatory response, but in patients with COPD, where the inflammatory response is mainly mediated by cytokines, chemokines and proteases, corticosteroid use is ineffective (23) and fails to work in macrophages of COPD patients, showing a relatively ineffective (19). The gene discussed is MMP9; the disease is chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.