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. 2020 Jun 15;201(12):1557-1559.
doi: 10.1164/rccm.202003-0693LE.

Tobacco Smoking Increases the Lung Gene Expression of ACE2, the Receptor of SARS-CoV-2

Guoshuai Cai  1 , Yohan Bossé  2 , Feifei Xiao  1 , Farrah Kheradmand  3 , Christopher I Amos  4
Affiliations

Tobacco Smoking Increases the Lung Gene Expression of ACE2, the Receptor of SARS-CoV-2

Guoshuai Cai et al. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. .
No abstract available

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Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Forest plots for the effects of smoking on ACE2, FURIN, and TMPRSS2 pulmonary gene expression. Nonsmokers/never-smokers and ever-smokers (including current and former smokers) were identified in each original study based on self-reported smoking history. For each gene, the top panel shows a comparison of ever-smoker and nonsmoker groups, the middle panel shows the association of ACE2 gene expression with smoking status (never, former, or current smoker), and the bottom panel shows the comparison of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and healthy groups, stratified by smoking status. For each study, the estimated effect size and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) are plotted. The size of the squares is proportional to the weights, which were estimated by the standard “inverse-variance” method for random-effects models in meta-analysis. BAE = bronchial airway epithelium; IUCPQ = Institut Universitaire de Cardiologie et de Pneumologie de Québec; LAE = large airway epithelium; SAE = small airway epithelium; TCGA = The Cancer Genome Atlas.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
ACE2 expression in single-cell transcriptomics of bronchial epithelium cells from never-smokers and current smokers. A t-distributed stochastic neighbor embedding (t-SNE) plot of single-cell transcriptome profiles from never-smokers and current smokers is shown. ACE2 expression is shown by red stars. Cell types were identified based on gene expression of markers (11). Confirming the original study, we observed that smokers exhibited a remodeled cell composition in bronchial epithelium with a loss of club cells and extensive hyperplasia of goblet cells.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Comment in

  • Cigarette Smoking and COVID-19: A Complex Interaction.
    Polverino F. Polverino F. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2020 Aug 1;202(3):471-472. doi: 10.1164/rccm.202005-1646LE. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2020. PMID: 32530714 Free PMC article. No abstract available.
  • Oral cancer and ACE2 receptor of SARS-CoV-2.
    Martelli-Júnior H, Machado RA, Martelli DRB, Andrade MC, Coletta RD. Martelli-Júnior H, et al. Oral Oncol. 2020 Sep;108:104920. doi: 10.1016/j.oraloncology.2020.104920. Epub 2020 Jul 21. Oral Oncol. 2020. PMID: 32713810 Free PMC article. No abstract available.

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