Study reveals how smoking worsens COVID-19 infection in the airways

UCLA researchers using a model of airway tissue created from human stem cells have pinpointed how smoking cigarettes causes more severe infection by SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, in the airways of the lungs.The study, led by scientists at the  Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at UCLA andpublished in Cell Stem Cell, will help researchers  better understand COVID-19 risks for smokers and could inform the development of new therapeutic strategies to help reduce smokers’ chances of developing severe disease.Cigarette smoking is one of the most common causes of lung diseases, including lung cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and most demographic studies of COVID-19 patients have indicated that current smokers are at increased risk of severe infection and death. But the reasons why have not been entirely clear.To help understand how smoking affects SARS-CoV-2 infection on a cellular and molecular level, Dr. Brigitte Gomperts partnered with co-senior authors Vaithilingaraja Arumugaswami, an associate professor of molecular and medical pharmacology, and Kathrin Plath, a professor of biological chemistry, to recreate what happens when the airways of a current smoker are infected with SARS-CoV-2.  The team utilized a platform known as an air –liquid interface culture, which is grown from human airway stem cells and closely replicates how the airways behave and function in humans. The airways, which carry ai...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news