# Effect of opioid use disorder on HIV latent reservoirs and immune dysfunction assessed by single-cell transcriptomics

> **NIH NIH R61** · BOSTON UNIVERSITY (CHARLES RIVER CAMPUS) · 2020 · $164,927

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
SARS-COV-2 and the associated respiratory disease, COVID-19, has been linked to over 100,000 deaths
globally since fall of 2019. Severe COVI9 and associated mortality has strongly been correlated with
several comorbidities including age, diabetes, immunodeficiencies and cardiovascular diseases. How
behavioral or lifestyle factors, in particular tobacco use, influence the course of COVID19 has not been
directly examined. Tobacco use, smoking and vaping, is a particular concern since it is directly linked to
poor lung health and increased susceptibility to bacterial and viral pulmonary infections including SARS
and MERS coronaviruses. Furthermore, patients that use tobacco products are at higher risk for the
comorbidities such as, diabetes and cardiovascular diseases that are risk factors for COVID19. SARS-
COV2 infection and tobacco use both trigger and perpetuate a dysfunctional inflammatory cytokine
response in the lung. We hypothesize that smoking and vaping are primary risk factors associated
with severe COVID19 and that they directly contribute to morbidity and mortality by exacerbating
the uncontrolled pulmonary cytokine storm.
We will adapt transcriptomics approaches established for our current R61, “Effect of Opioid Use Disorder
on HIV Latent Reservoirs and Immune Dysfunction Assessed by Single-Cell Transcriptomics” to gain
insights into COVID19 mechanism of disease. We will initially obtain blood samples from the Boston
Medical Center COVID19 biorepository collected from COV19+ smokers and nonsmokers and compare to
COV19-negative individuals and perform state of the art digital drop single cell RNA sequencing, single
cell ATAC-sequencing and computational analysis to provide insights into key innate immune signatures
that directly contribute to COVID19. Although we will initially focus on blood since this is an easily
obtainable tissue and often provides an immunological footprint of disease, we will compare blood with
other clinical tissue samples including lung fluids as they become available.
The completion of these studies will provide new insights into COVID19 biomarkers and dysregulation of
specific inflammatory pathways. A primary goal is to use the results from these proposed experiments to
generate new hypotheses that will guide more mechanistic studies towards understanding epigenetic
events that directly and indirectly influence the course of pulmonary lung infections.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10150221
- **Project number:** 3R61DA047032-03S1
- **Recipient organization:** BOSTON UNIVERSITY (CHARLES RIVER CAMPUS)
- **Principal Investigator:** Christine Cheng
- **Activity code:** R61 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $164,927
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2018-08-15 → 2022-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10150221

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10150221, Effect of opioid use disorder on HIV latent reservoirs and immune dysfunction assessed by single-cell transcriptomics (3R61DA047032-03S1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10150221. Licensed CC0.

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