Posted on 09/11/2021 2:15:29 PM PDT by LesbianThespianGymnasticMidget
Researchers have identified a potential reason why lower numbers of COVID cases have appeared amongst smokers compared to non-smokers, even as other reports suggest smoking increases severity of the disease.
Researchers have identified two drugs that mimic the effect of chemicals in cigarette smoke to bind to a receptor in mammalian cells that inhibits production of ACE2 proteins, a process that appears to reduce the ability of the SARS-CoV-2 virus to enter the cell.
The findings appear in the journal Scientific Reports on 17 August.
Something of a paradox exists with respect to smoking cigarettes and COVID-19. Active smoking is associated with increased severity of disease, but at the same time, many reports have suggested lower numbers of COVID cases amongst smokers than amongst non-smokers.
"Something strange was going on here," said Keiji Tanimoto of Hiroshima University's Research Institute for Radiation Biology and Medicine, the corresponding author of the paper. "But we had a few ideas about how to tease out what some of the mechanisms at work might be."
"We must stress the presence of strong evidence showing that smoking increases the severity of COVID-19," Tanimoto added. "But the mechanism we discovered here is worth further investigation as a potential tool to fight SARS-CoV-2 infections."
It is known that cigarette smoke contains polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). These can bind to and activate aryl hydrocarbon receptors (AHRs). A receptor is any structure of the surface or inside of a cell that is shaped to receive and bind to a particular substance. AHRs are a type of receptor inside of mammalian cells that is in turn a transcription factor—something that can induce a wide range of cellular activities through its ability to increase or decrease the expression of certain genes.
Knowing this about the relationship between PAHs and AHRs, the researchers wanted to investigate the effect of drugs that activate AHR on expression of the genes that control production of the ACE2 protein—the infamous receptor protein on the surface of many cells types that works like a lock that the SARS-CoV-2 virus is able to pick. After binding the virus to the ACE2 protein, it can then enter and infect the cell.
First, the scientists investigated various cell lines to examine their gene expression levels of ACE2. They found that those cells originating in the oral cavity, lungs and liver had the highest ACE2 expression.
These high-ACE2-expression cells were then subjected to various doses of cigarette-smoke extract (CSE) for 24 hours. After this, the rate of expression of the CYP1A1 gene, which is known to be inducible by CSE, was evaluated. The CSE treatment had induced increased expression of CYP1A1 gene in liver and lung cells in a dose-dependent manner—the greater the dose, the greater the effect. However, this effect was not as pronounced in oral cavity cells. In other words, greater activity of the CYP1A1, less production of the ACE2 receptors—the route that the virus is able to enter cells.
In order to explain why this was happening in the presence of cigarette smoke, the researchers then used RNA sequencing analysis to investigate what was happening with gene expression more comprehensively. They found that CSE increased the expressions of genes related to a number of key signaling processes within the cell that are regulated by AHR.
To more directly observe this mechanism by which AHR acts on ACE2 expression, the effects of two drugs that can activate AHR were evaluated on the liver cells. The first, 6‑formylindolo(3,2‑b)carbazole (FICZ) is derivative of the amino acid tryptophan, and the second, omeprazole (OMP), is a medication already widely used in the treatment of acid reflux and peptic ulcers.
RNA sequencing data suggested that the CYP1A1 gene was strongly induced in liver cells by these AHR activators, and expression of the ACE2 gene was strongly inhibited, again in a dose-dependent manner.
In other words, the cigarette smoke extract and these two drugs—all of which act as activators of AHR—are able to suppress the expression of ACE2 in mammalian cells, and by doing so, reduce the ability of the SARS-CoV-2 virus to enter the cell.
Based on the findings in the lab, the team is now proceeding with pre-clinical and clinical trials on the drugs as a novel anti-COVID-19 therapy.
I think that’s Prilosec.
I always thought it gave me a nice even heart rate. lol
Husband vapes. Bad case of Covid last year. I chew nicotine gum ( quite a bit of it unforch) and I have not caught the Covid yet. Hmm.
I quit cold Turkey 20 yrs ago but picked it back up.
The last year and a half has seen an uptick
But about 6months ago I tried rolling my Own.
Tobacco shops sell the
Tubes,Pipe Tobacco and
a 12 dollar Machine.
You get perhaps 3 good puffs and it’s done,
at a Nickle a piece!
I am Smoking less and
Will quit soon.
I just retired and scored
A Great place in Arizona!
Good Luck FRiend.
Learn to roll your own. way way way cheaper!
Buy the leaves, shred them, roll them, smoke’m.
It is Prilosec. No clue about if there is any in Pepcid.
Well anyway I was at a blackjack table next to an oriental guy and he was smoking some Chinese cigs.
Most vile cig smoke, I ever smelled. I didn't move since I was winning and didn't want to break my luck.
Maybe the ccp engineered the Wuhan virus so that smokers would be protected.
Are you serious? You smoked longer than 58 years? Holy cow, who are you, Keith Richards? LOL Yeah I tried vaping but it kept giving my colds and a sore throat believe it or not, I don’t know, maybe I’m allergic to it
Cigar smoker here. Germs can’t get past the Cigar funk.
I’ve smoked Cigars for fifty years.
LOL - I quit smoking a couple of years before this Covid fiasco. Talk about bad timing.
Landon died of pancreatic cancer (exocrine adenocarcinoma). Diagnosed April 5, 1991 and dead less than 3 months later.
Cigarettes, pork rinds, Gin
A combination of those kills the Covid virus blows the spikes right off
I have a modest proposal. Instead of masking pre-schoolers we should hand them a pack of smokes when they walk in the door. At least there is science that there is some benefit to the smoking vs Covid.
What do ya think. LOL
Nicotine does thin the blood. It also kills things if concentrated enough. It may kill COVID in cigarette level concentrations.
Omeprazole, an off-the-shelf acid-reflux medication, will be next to be banished by the FDA, the CDC, and the rest of the axis of evil.
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