ACE2, TMPRSS2 distribution and extrapulmonary organ injury in patients with COVID-19
Autor
Dong, Mengzhen
Zhang, Jie
Ma, Xuefeng
Tan, Jie
Chen, Lizhen
Liu, Shousheng
Xin, Yongning
Zhuang, Likun
Institución
Resumen
At the end of 2019, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by severe
acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), emerged in China.
Currently, it is breaking out globally and posing a serious threat to public health. The
typically clinical characteristics of COVID-19 patients were fever and respiratory
symptoms, and a proportion of patients were accompanied by extrapulmonary
symptoms including cardiac injury, kidney injury, liver injury, digestive tract injury,
and neurological symptoms. Angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) has been
proven to be a major receptor for SARS-CoV-2 and could mediate virus entry into
cells. And transmembrane protease serine 2 (TMPRSS2) could cleave the spike (S)
protein of SARS-CoV-2, which facilitates the fusion of SARS-CoV-2 and cellular
membranes. The mRNA expressions of both ACE2 and TMPRSS2 were observed in
the heart, digestive tract, liver, kidney, brain and other organs. SARS-CoV-2 may have
a capacity to infect extrapulmonary organs due to the expressions of ACE2 and
TMPRSS2 in the cells and tissues of these organs. It seems that there is a potential
involvement of ACE2 and TMPRSS2 expressions in the virus infection of
extrapulmonary organs and the manifestation of symptoms related to these organs in
patients with COVID-19. Here, we revealed the expressions of ACE2 and TMPRSS2
in extrapulmonary organs, and we also summarized the clinical manifestation and the
management of extrapulmonary complications in patients with COVID-19.