Current smoking is not associated with COVID-19. Issue 6 (4th June 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Rossato, Marco; Russo, Lucia; Mazzocut, Sara; Di Vincenzo, Angelo; Fioretto, Paola; Vettor, Roberto
• Is Part Of: European respiratory journal. Volume 55:Issue 6(2020)
• Publication Date: 2020-06-04
• Subjects: Respiratory organs -- Diseases -- Periodicals; Respiration -- Periodicals; 616.2
• DOI: 10.1183/13993003.01290-2020
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0903-1936

Abstract

We have read with interest the paper by Leung et al . [1] recently published in the European Respiratory Journal, reporting a higher expression of the protein angiotensin-converting enzyme II (ACE-2) in the small airway epithelia of smokers and COPD patients with putatively important implications for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients, since ACE-2 has been shown to be the receptor utilised by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) to enter the host cell [2]. Furthermore, the authors reported that current smokers showed a higher expression of ACE-2 gene expression than non-smokers, concluding that the increased ACE-2 expression in smokers might predispose to increased risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection [1]. Despite the main complications of SARS-CoV-2 infection regard lung involvement, the prevalence of current smoking in COVID-19 patients is very low, thus questioning the role of coexisting active smoking as a risk factor for COVID-19 pneumonia https://bit.ly/3eUnl1R