ArticleCell research2021
AXL is a candidate receptor for SARS-CoV-2 that promotes infection of pulmonary and bronchial epithelial cells.
Article in Cell research, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 356 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
356 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 502 citations in OpenAlex.
- A systematic review on the incidence of influenza viruses in wastewater matrices: Implications for public health.PloS one · 2024Pooled it
- Andrological effects of SARS-Cov-2 infection: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Journal of endocrinological investigation · 2022Pooled it
- AXL mediates influenza A virus entry and drives virus-induced inflammation.Emerging microbes & infections · 2026Article
- Identification of Prohibitin (PHB) as an Entry Factor of Highly Pathogenic Coronaviruses Using Metabolic Glycoengineering and Photo-Crosslinking Techniques.Emerging microbes & infections · 2026Article
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- AXL at the nexus of therapeutic resistance, tumor vascularization, and immune evasion in cancer.iScience · 2026Review
- Targeting receptor tyrosine kinases: from molecular mechanisms to clinical therapeutics.Signal transduction and targeted therapy · 2026Review
- Article
- Identification of GRP78 as a novel host factor that facilitates zoonotic porcine deltacoronavirus internalization and replication via clathrin-mediated endocytosis.Journal of virology · 2026Article
- Triple IFN pathway deficiency sensitizes mice to human respiratory virus infection independent of human viral receptor expression.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Dual engagement of Spike and ACE2 by annexin A5 contributes to pleiotropic SARS-CoV-2 inhibition.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Pathogen-Specific Regulation of Renin-Angiotensin System Genes in Epithelial Cells: A Comparative Study of SARS-CoV-2 Spike Protein N-Terminal Domain Fragment and Bacterial Lipopolysaccharide.Pathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
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- When Viruses Talk through Extracellular Vesicles: a New Perspective on Sars-Cov-2-Induced Neurodegeneration.Journal of extracellular vesicles · 2026Article
- SARS-CoV-2 N Protein Hijacks the mViruses · 2026Article
- The macrophage entry mechanism of SARS-CoV-2 mediated by surface CD98/TMPRSS11E complex is associated with the cellular tropism toward proinflammatory M1 and pathogenesis.Respiratory research · 2026Article
- Structural Basis of MERS-CoV Receptor Interactions and Antibody Neutralisations.Reviews in medical virology · 2026Review
- A Lung-Immune Dual-Humanized Mouse Using Cryopreserved Tissue Enables Infection and Immune Profiling of Human Common Cold Coronaviruses.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2026Article
296 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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Authors and funding
20 authors at 6 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
The current coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic presents a global public health challenge. The viral pathogen responsible, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), binds to the host receptor ACE2 through its spike (S) glycoprotein, which mediates membrane fusion and viral entry. Although the role of ACE2 as a receptor for SARS-CoV-2 is clear, studies have shown that ACE2 expression is extremely low in various human tissues, especially in the respiratory tract. Thus, other host receptors and/or co-receptors that promote the entry of SARS-CoV-2 into cells of the respiratory system may exist. In this study, we found that the tyrosine-protein kinase receptor UFO (AXL) specifically interacts with the N-terminal domain of SARS-CoV-2 S. Using both a SARS-CoV-2 virus pseudotype and authentic SARS-CoV-2, we found that overexpression of AXL in HEK293T cells promotes SARS-CoV-2 entry as efficiently as overexpression of ACE2, while knocking out AXL significantly reduces SARS-CoV-2 infection in H1299 pulmonary cells and in human primary lung epithelial cells. Soluble human recombinant AXL blocks SARS-CoV-2 infection in cells expressing high levels of AXL. The AXL expression level is well correlated with SARS-CoV-2 S level in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid cells from COVID-19 patients. Taken together, our findings suggest that AXL is a novel candidate receptor for SARS-CoV-2 which may play an important role in promoting viral infection of the human respiratory system and indicate that it is a potential target for future clinical intervention strategies.
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Registered trials
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.