ArticleERJ open research2021
Nicotine upregulates ACE2 expression and increases competence for SARS-CoV-2 in human pneumocytes.
Article in ERJ open research, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 23 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
23 citing papers in PubMed, 38 citations in OpenAlex.
- Evaluation of molecular interactions of vaping juice components with ACE2 receptor.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Alpha-7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor: targeting the interplay between inflammation, renin-angiotensin aldosterone system, and nervous system for the novel treatment of heart failure.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2026Review
- Severe COVID-19 in Non-Smokers: Predictive Factors and Outcomes.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Aging shapes infection profiles of influenza A virus and SARS-CoV-2 in human precision-cut lung slices.Respiratory research · 2025Article
- Food-Derived Up-Regulators and Activators of Angiotensin Converting Enzyme 2: A Review.Journal of agricultural and food chemistry · 2024Review
- The Association between Lifestyle Factors and COVID-19: Findings from Qatar Biobank.Nutrients · 2024Article
- Immunological Signatures in Blood and Urine in 80 Individuals Hospitalized during the Initial Phase of COVID-19 Pandemic with Quantified Nicotine Exposure.International journal of molecular sciences · 2024Article
- Nicotine: From Discovery to Biological Effects.International journal of molecular sciences · 2023Review
- Substances of abuse and their effect on SAR-CoV-2 pathogenesis.NeuroImmune pharmacology and therapeutics · 2023Review
- The controversial effect of smoking and nicotine in SARS-CoV-2 infection.Allergy, asthma, and clinical immunology : official journal of the Canadian Society of Allergy and Clinical Immunology · 2023Review
- New insights into how popular electronic cigarette aerosols and aerosol constituents affect SARS-CoV-2 infection of human bronchial epithelial cells.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- α7- and α9-Containing Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptors in the Functioning of Immune System and in Pain.International journal of molecular sciences · 2023Review
- Activities Carried Out during the First COVID-19 Lockdown by Italian Citizens.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Article
- The Influence of Provaping "Gatewatchers" on the Dissemination of COVID-19 Misinformation on Twitter: Analysis of Twitter Discourse Regarding Nicotine and the COVID-19 Pandemic.Journal of medical Internet research · 2022Article
- Smoking, nicotine, and COVID-19.The Lancet. Respiratory medicine · 2022Article
- SARS-CoV-2 and the central nervous system: Emerging insights into hemorrhage-associated neurological consequences and therapeutic considerations.Ageing research reviews · 2022Review
- New Insights into How JUUL™ Electronic Cigarette Aerosols and Aerosol Constituents Affect SARS-CoV-2 Infection of Human Bronchial Epithelial Cells.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2022Article
- Nicotine in Combination with SARS-CoV-2 Affects Cells Viability, Inflammatory Response and Ultrastructural Integrity.International journal of molecular sciences · 2022Article
- E-cigarettes and youth: an unresolved Public Health concern.Italian journal of pediatrics · 2022Review
- mRNA expression of the severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus 2 angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 receptor in the lung tissue of Wistar rats according to age.Veterinary world · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
11 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has a variable degree of severity according to underlying comorbidities and life-style. Several research groups have reported an association between cigarette smoking and increased severity of COVID-19. The exact mechanism of action is largely unclear. We exposed low angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2)-expressing human pulmonary adenocarcinoma A549 epithelial cells to nicotine and assessed ACE2 expression at different times. We further used the nicotine-exposed cells in a virus neutralisation assay. Nicotine exposure induces rapid and long-lasting increases in gene and protein expression of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) receptor ACE2, which in turn translates into increased competence for SARS-CoV-2 replication and cytopathic effect. These findings show that nicotine worsens SARS-CoV-2 pulmonary infection and have implications for public health policies.
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.