FIGURE 3.

ACE2 expression is upregulated in E-cig exposed mice and correlates with immune status. Transcriptomic data from the lungs of CD1 and C57BL/6 female mice, exposed to aerosols generated from Vape pens with 50:50 PG:Gly and 24 mg/ml nicotine for 3 and 6 months, respectively, was analyzed for ACE2 expression and assessed for correlation with immune pathways. (A) Changes in ACE2 and ACE2-associated gene expression in the lungs of E-cig exposed mice relative to Air control mice. (B) Schematic of genes associated with ACE2. (C) Scatter plots of ACE2 expression demonstrate correlations with immune cell infiltration levels (y-axis plots gene expression values in read count per million reads; x-axis plots the fraction of immune cells within the lung tissue that are of the specific cell type indicated). (D) Correlations between ACE2 expression and immunity-associated pathways. The vertical red lines represent significance cutoff at p = 0.05. Individual GSEA plots demonstrate correlations between ACE2 expression and (E) interleukin receptor signaling, (F) the IFNg pathway in primary immunodeficiency, and (G) immune pathways activated during infection with influenza. Data is representative of six mice per group, with pooling of RNA from pairs of mice prior to transcriptomics.