Study reveals how smoking worsens Covid infection airways

New York, Nov 19 : 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, published in the journal 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 To help understand how smoking affects SARS-CoV-2 infection on a cellular and molecular level recreated 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 air breathed in from the nose and mouth to the lungs, are the body’s first line of defence against airborne pathogens like viruses, bacteria and smoke.
“Our model replicates the upper part of the airways, which is the first place the virus hits,” said study author Brigitte Gomperts from the University of California, Los Angeles in the US.