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Alpha-1 Antitrypsin Deficiency featured on About.com
The About.com website carries an interesting article on Alpha-1 Antitrypsin Deficiency as part of its website content on Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). The article has extensive links to the Alpha-1 Foundation website and others for more information. This is the article.
About.com
Alpha-1-antitrypsin deficiency is a genetic condition caused by a lack of the protective protein Alpha-1-antitrypsin (AAT), which is normally produced by the liver. For the vast majority of us who have sufficient amounts of AAT, this little protein plays a vital role in maintaining normal lung function. But for those who have AAT deficiency, the story takes on an entirely different scenario.
In healthy individuals, the lungs contain a natural enzyme called neutrophil elastase that, under normal circumstances, helps the lungs by digesting damaged, aging cells and bacteria. This process promotes healing of the lung tissue. Unfortunately for the lungs, however, these enzymes don’t know when to stop, and eventually attack the lung tissue instead of helping it heal. That’s where AAT comes in. By destroying the enzyme before it can cause actual damage to healthy lung tissue, the lungs proceed to function normally. When there is not enough AAT, however, the lung tissue will continue to be destroyed, which may lead to the chronic lung disease, emphysema.
