Canadian scientists have found that on the epithelium of smokers, as well as people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, more proteins are expressed that SARS-CoV-2 uses to penetrate the cell.
–
People with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, as well as active smokers, may be more vulnerable to the SARS-CoV-2 virus. According to a study published in European Respiratory Journal, these people have higher levels of ACE-2 protein expression (angiotensin-converting enzyme). Previous work on this topic has shown that coronavirus uses ACE-2 to enter cells.
The study was conducted by a group of scientists led by Janice Leung of the University of British Columbia in Canada. They examined pulmonary epithelium samples taken from 42 people: exactly half of them had diagnosed with COPD, the rest were healthy; 24% of the subjects were smokers. Scientists measured ACE-2 levels in tissue samples. In patients with COPD, as well as in people with a bad habit, the amount of protein studied was significantly higher.
The results were then compared with data from two other studies that contained information on a total of 249 people: current and former smokers, and also never smokers. It turned out that on the epithelium, those who continued to smoke showed more intense expression of ACE-2 than those who never smoked or quit.
According to Janice Leung, in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, people with COPD and those who have not given up cigarettes should strictly observe the social distance and proper hand hygiene. The fact that the level of angiotensin-converting enzymes in former smokers is noticeably lower than in current smokers, Leung comments as follows: “There has never been a better time to quit smoking, protecting yourself from Covid-19.”
“This work provides some interesting insights into why individuals may be at risk for more severe Covid-19 symptoms than others,” said Professor Tobias Welte, who was not involved in the study, coordinator of the German task force on coronavirus. Possibly, it is the amount of membrane protein that leads to the fact that smokers and patients with COPD have a higher risk of an adverse outcome with Covid-19.
According to the scientist, the next important question for research is whether ACE-2 expression levels can be changed in patients at risk to reduce the risk of infection.
Found a typo? Select the fragment and press Ctrl + Enter.
