The adverse inflammatory response of tobacco smoking in COVID-19 patients: biomarkers from proteomics and metabolomics

Whether tobacco smoking affects the occurrence and development of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is still a controversial issue, and potential biomarkers to predict the adverse outcomes of smoking in the progression of COVID-19 patients have not yet been elucidated. To further uncover their linkage and explore the effective biomarkers, three proteomics and metabolomics databases (i.e. smoking status, COVID-19 status, and basic information of population) from human serum proteomic and metabolomic levels were established by literature search. Bioinformatics analysis was then performed to analyze the interactions of proteins or metabolites among the above three databases and their biological effects. Potential confounding factors (age, body mass index (BMI), and gender) were controlled to improve the reliability. The obtained data indicated that smoking may increase the relative risk of conversion from non-severe to severe COVID-19 patients by inducing the dysfunctional immune response. Seven interacting proteins (C8A, LBP, FCN2, CRP, SAA1, SAA2, and VTN) were found to promote the deterioration of COVID-19 by stimulating the complement pathway and macrophage phagocytosis as well as inhibiting the associated negative regulatory pathways, which can be biomarkers to reflect and predict adverse outcomes in smoking COVID-19 patients. Three crucial pathways related to immunity and inflammation, including tryptophan, arginine, and glycerophospholipid metabolism, were considered to...
Source: Journal of Breath Research - Category: Respiratory Medicine Authors: Source Type: research