Objective To study the relationship between smoking as well as smoke cessation and lung inflammation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease( COPD) , and its possible mechanism. Methods Thirty-two Wistar rats were randomly divided into a control group, a low-dose smoking group, a high-dose smoking group, and a smoke cessation group. The expressions of NF-κB and E-selectin in rats lung were detected by immunohistochemistry and hybridization in situ. Results The mRNA and protein expressions of NF-κB in bronchial endothelial cells of the high-dose smoking group( 0. 43 ±0. 01, 0. 41 ±0. 04) , the lowdose smoking group( 0. 41 ±0. 01, 0. 40 ±0. 01) , and the smoke cessation group( 0. 39 ±0. 01, 0. 37 ±0. 03) , were significantly higher than the control group( 0. 29 ±0. 06, 0. 28 ±0. 06) ( all P lt; 0. 05) , with the high-dose smoking group and the smoke cessation group significantly higher than the low-dose smoking group ( both P lt;0. 05) . The mRNA and protein expressions of E-selectin had the similar pattern with NF-κB. The expressions of E-selectin mRNA and protein were positively correlated with the expression of NF-κB mRNA and protein respectively ( r = 0. 80, r = 0. 89, P lt; 0. 01) . Conclusions Smoking can result in high expressions of NF-κB and E-selectin in a dose dependent manner. Smoke cessation can relieve airway inflammation and is an effective measure for preventing COPD.