ArticleEBioMedicine2020
Heterogeneous expression of the SARS-Coronavirus-2 receptor ACE2 in the human respiratory tract.
Article in EBioMedicine, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 132 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
132 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 200 citations in OpenAlex.
- Age-related differences in SARS-CoV-2 binding factors: An explanation for reduced susceptibility to severe COVID-19 among children?Paediatric respiratory reviews · 2022Pooled it
- Therapeutic Opportunities Targeting the ACE2/Ang-(1-7)/MasR Pathway in Cardiometabolic Disease.Current hypertension reports · 2026Review
- Evaluating imputation methods for accurate estimation of cell population fractions in single-cell RNA sequencing.NAR genomics and bioinformatics · 2026Article
- ACE2 Expression and Clinical Biomarkers in COVID-19: Associations With Disease Severity.Pulmonary medicine · 2026Article
- Targeting Oxidative and Nitrosative Stress: Mechanistic Insights and Therapeutic Strategies for Radiation-Induced Lung Injury.Journal of inflammation research · 2026Review
- Endocan attenuates LPS-induced alveolar type II cells injury through PI3K/Akt/mTOR pathway.Upsala journal of medical sciences · 2026Article
- Expression of angiotensin-converting enzyme 2, transmembrane serine protease 2, and sirtuin 1 proteins in lungs of different age groups.Jornal brasileiro de pneumologia : publicacao oficial da Sociedade Brasileira de Pneumologia e Tisilogia · 2026Article
- Local and systemic host responses to influenza and concurrent or sequential SARS-CoV-2 infection.Frontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2026Review
- Isogenic induced-pluripotent-stem-cell-derived airway- and alveolus-on-chip models reveal specific innate immune responses.Nature biomedical engineering · 2025Article
- Optimization of Methods for the Quantitative Analysis of Global Cell Surface Proteome and Cell Surface Polarization.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Article
- Review
- Functional crosstalk between the lung and eye: a new frontier in chronic lung diseases.Archives of toxicology · 2025Review
- ACE-2 blockade and TMPRSS2 inhibition mitigate SARS-CoV-2 severity following cigarette smoke exposure in airway epithelial cellsMolecular therapy. Nucleic acids · 2025Article
- NMDA receptor antagonists mitigate COVID-19-induced neuroinflammation and improve survival in a mouse model.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Metabolic modeling elucidates phenformin and atpenin A5 as broad-spectrum antiviral drugs against RNA viruses.Communications biology · 2025Article
- Article
- Human ACE2 transgenic pigs are susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 and develop COVID-19-like disease.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Assessment of upper respiratory and gut bacterial microbiomes during COVID-19 infection in adults: potential aerodigestive transmission.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Alveolar Macrophages in Viral Respiratory Infections: Sentinels and Saboteurs of Lung Defense.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Review
- The role of epithelial-mesenchymal transition in pulmonary fibrosis: lessons from idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and COVID-19.Cell communication and signaling : CCS · 2024Review
72 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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Authors and funding
10 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundZoonotically transmitted coronaviruses are responsible for three disease outbreaks since 2002, including the current COVID-19 pandemic, caused by SARS-CoV-2. Its efficient transmission and range of disease severity raise questions regarding the contributions of virus-receptor interactions. ACE2 is a host ectopeptidase and the receptor for SARS-CoV-2. Numerous reports describe ACE2 mRNA abundance and tissue distribution; however, mRNA abundance is not always representative of protein levels. Currently, there is limited data evaluating ACE2 protein and its correlation with other SARS-CoV-2 susceptibility factors. MATERIALS AND
methodsWe systematically examined the human upper and lower respiratory tract using single-cell RNA sequencing and immunohistochemistry to determine receptor expression and evaluated its association with risk factors for severe COVID-19.
findingsOur results reveal that ACE2 protein is highest within regions of the sinonasal cavity and pulmonary alveoli, sites of presumptive viral transmission and severe disease development, respectively. In the lung parenchyma, ACE2 protein was found on the apical surface of a small subset of alveolar type II cells and colocalized with TMPRSS2, a cofactor for SARS-CoV2 entry. ACE2 protein was not increased by pulmonary risk factors for severe COVID-19. Additionally, ACE2 protein was not reduced in children, a demographic with a lower incidence of severe COVID-19.
interpretationThese results offer new insights into ACE2 protein localization in the human respiratory tract and its relationship with susceptibility factors to COVID-19.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.