Nicotine could have a protective effect against infection by the new coronavirus, advance researchers in France where preventive and therapeutic trials will be undertaken with nicotine patches to verify it. The hypothesis is supported by the low number of smokers among hospitalized Covid-19 patients, according to several studies around the world, with rates ranging from 1.4% to 12.5%.
A new French study of 350 hospitalized and 150 lighter patients who consulted, all suffering from Covid-19, confirms this under-representation of smokers among the patients. "Among these patients, there were only 5% of smokers," said professor of internal medicine Zahir Amoura, author of this study.
Preventive and therapeutic trials
"The hypothesis is that nicotine, by attaching to the cell receptor used by the coronavirus, prevents or retains it from attaching to it" and therefore from entering the cells and spreading, explains Jean-Pierre Changeux , professor at the Institut Pasteur and the Collège de France. This world-renowned neurobiologist, specialist in nicotinic receptors, is the co-author of an article on this subject in the Biology Reports of the Academy of Sciences, of which he is a member.
The nicotine hypothesis remains to be proven, however, hence the importance of clinical trials. As soon as the final green light is obtained, nicotinic patches will be administered at different dosages in three trials, at the La Pitié-Salpêtrière hospital in Paris: as a preventive measure for caregivers, to see if it protects them, in therapy at patients hospitalized in medicine, to try to reduce their symptoms, and finally to serious patients in intensive care, details Zahir Amoura.
Do not forget about the harmful effects
Nicotine could lessen the hyper-inflammation, the "cytokine storms", which seem to play a key role in severe cases of Covid-19 and leave medicine relatively helpless. According to Zahir Amoura, hospitalized smoking patients could see their condition worsen due to an abrupt withdrawal from tobacco, but this is worth checking.
However, these studies should not encourage people to rush to cigarettes and patches. Smoking damages the lungs and it is not good for health (cancers, heart attacks, severe chronic bronchitis, etc.), remind doctors.
This is "an interesting track, among other tracks of clinical research", commented on Wednesday the Minister of Health Olivier Véran. "We must not forget the harmful effects of nicotine [...] Smokers present severe cases of Covid", explained the director general of Health Jérôme Salomon, advising against taking cigarettes and recalling that "tobacco is the killer number 1 in France with 75,000 deaths per year ”.
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