Smoking modulates different secretory subpopulations expressing SARS-CoV-2 entry genes in the nasal and bronchial airways (AEGIS nasal brushings)

Nasal epithelial brushings were prospectively collected from current and former smokers with pulmonary lesions suspicious for lung cancer in the AEGIS-1 (n=375) and AEGIS-2 (n=130) clinical trials and gene expression profiled using microarrays. mRNA gene expression from 505 nasal epithelial brushings was profiled using Affymetrix Gene 1.0 ST microarrays. Samples were collected from patients in the Airway Epithelial Gene Expression in the Diagnosis of Lung Cancer (AEGIS) trials (AEGIS-1 and AEGIS-2), two independent, prospective, multicenter, observational studies. 375 nasal samples (243 with lung cancer, 132 with benign lung disease) were patients in the AEGIS-1 trial and 130 nasal samples (66 with lung cancer, 64 with benign lung disease) were from patients in the AEGIS-2 trial.