{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,22]],"date-time":"2026-07-22T19:51:53Z","timestamp":1784749913024,"version":"3.55.0"},"reference-count":69,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"15","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2020,7,31]],"date-time":"2020-07-31T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1596153600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/100014576","name":"Office of the President, University of California","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["R00RG2369"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["R00RG2369"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100014576","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"name":"Academic Senate, UCSD","award":["RG096651"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["RG096651"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["IJMS"],"abstract":"<jats:p>The COVID-19 pandemic caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, overlaps with the ongoing epidemics of cigarette smoking and electronic cigarette (e-cig) vaping. However, there is scarce data relating COVID-19 risks and outcome with cigarette or e-cig use. In this study, we mined three independent RNA expression datasets from smokers and vapers to understand the potential relationship between vaping\/smoking and the dysregulation of key genes and pathways related to COVID-19. We found that smoking, but not vaping, upregulates ACE2, the cellular receptor that SARS-CoV-2 requires for infection. Both smoking and use of nicotine and flavor-containing e-cigs led to upregulation of pro-inflammatory cytokines and inflammasome-related genes. Specifically, chemokines including CCL20 and CXCL8 are upregulated in smokers, and CCL5 and CCR1 are upregulated in flavor\/nicotine-containing e-cig users. We also found genes implicated in inflammasomes, such as CXCL1, CXCL2, NOD2, and ASC, to be upregulated in smokers and these e-cig users. Vaping flavor and nicotine-less e-cigs, however, did not lead to significant cytokine dysregulation and inflammasome activation. Release of inflammasome products, such as IL-1B, and cytokine storms are hallmarks of COVID-19 infection, especially in severe cases. Therefore, our findings demonstrated that smoking or vaping may critically exacerbate COVID-19-related inflammation or increase susceptibility to COVID-19.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ijms21155513","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2020,8,3]],"date-time":"2020-08-03T06:16:47Z","timestamp":1596435407000},"page":"5513","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":33,"title":["Tobacco, but Not Nicotine and Flavor-Less Electronic Cigarettes, Induces ACE2 and Immune Dysregulation"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"21","author":[{"given":"Abby C.","family":"Lee","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Division of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Department of Surgery, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA"},{"name":"Research Service, VA San Diego Healthcare System San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92161, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jaideep","family":"Chakladar","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Division of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Department of Surgery, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA"},{"name":"Research Service, VA San Diego Healthcare System San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92161, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Wei Tse","family":"Li","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Division of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Department of Surgery, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA"},{"name":"Research Service, VA San Diego Healthcare System San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92161, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Chengyu","family":"Chen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Division of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Department of Surgery, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA"},{"name":"Research Service, VA San Diego Healthcare System San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92161, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Eric Y.","family":"Chang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Radiology, Radiology Service, VA San Diego Healthcare System San Diego, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jessica","family":"Wang-Rodriguez","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Pathology, Pathology Service, VA San Diego Healthcare System San Diego, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Weg M.","family":"Ongkeko","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Division of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Department of Surgery, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA"},{"name":"Research Service, VA San Diego Healthcare System San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92161, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2020,7,31]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1239","DOI":"10.1001\/jama.2020.2648","article-title":"Characteristics of and important lessons from the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak in china: Summary of a report of 72314 cases from the Chinese center for disease control and prevention","volume":"323","author":"Wu","year":"2020","journal-title":"JAMA"},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"20","DOI":"10.18332\/tid\/119324","article-title":"COVID-19 and smoking: A systematic review of the evidence","volume":"18","author":"Vardavas","year":"2020","journal-title":"Tob. 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