Related Experiment Video
Updated: Nov 12, 2025
Cigarette Smoke Exposure in Mice using a Whole-Body Inhalation System
Published on: October 22, 2020
Smoking Enigma in Coronavirus Disease 2019: A Tug of War between Predisposition and Possible Way Out
Nadira Naznin Rakhi1, Ritu Biswas1
1Department of Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Science and Technology University, Gopalganj-8100, Bangladesh.
Background:
The recent global inclination for smoking during the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has drawn attention to the impact of smoking on COVID-19. While smoking increases susceptibility to common respiratory pathogens including the closely related coronaviruses, COVID-19 causing Severe Acute Respiratory Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) being a respiratory pathogen intrigues the possible association between smoking and viral pathogenicity.
Smoking And Covid-19:
The gender dependence of COVID-19 infection rates and a higher prevalence of smokers among males made the scientific world assume smoking to be a confounding variable in sex predisposition to COVID-19. Conversely, the controversial findings of discrepant morbidity and mortality rates of COVID-19 among smokers questioned the credibility of this hypothesis. More importantly, nicotine in smoking has been hypothesized to downregulate Interleukin-6 (IL-6) which plays a role in COVID-19 severity and to interfere with the Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme 2 (ACE2), the receptor of SARS-CoV-2 led the scientists to experiment nicotine patch prophylactically against COVID-19. Besides, interaction between spike protein and nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) supports the nicotinic cholinergic system dysregulation hypothesis in COVID-19 pathophysiology leading to its therapeutic use. However, despite the contradictions in the direct impact of smoking, it surely acts as fomites for viral transmission.
Conclusion:
Irrespective of the role nicotine in COVID-management, compassionate use of smoking against SARS-CoV-2 cannot be recommended until the therapeutic value gets proved and therapeutic form becomes available.
Related Concept Videos
01:20COPD: Pathogenesis and Clinical Features
The primary cause for the onset of COPD is cigarette smoking and exposure to air pollution. These hazardous factors initiate a chain reaction within the lungs, resulting in chronic inflammation, damage to the airways, and a...
01:22Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease
Smoking is a primary risk factor for COPD, with over 80% of patients having a history of it. Patients typically experience progressive dyspnea or labored breathing, frequent coughing, and recurrent pulmonary infections. Many eventually succumb to respiratory failure, characterized by...
01:20Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease-II: Pathophysiology
Chronic Inflammation
01:29Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease-V: Management
Smoking Cessation
01:20Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease-I: Introduction
01:25Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease-III: Symptoms and Complications.
Symptoms of COPD can be classified as primary or systemic. Primary symptoms relate to reduced airflow, while systemic or extrapulmonary symptoms relate to COPD's broader impact on the body.
Primary Symptoms of COPD: