Systemic analysis of tissue cells potentially vulnerable to SARS-CoV-2 infection by the protein-proofed single-cell RNA profiling of ACE2, TMPRSS2 and Furin proteases

Lulin Zhou; Zubiao Niu; Xiaoyi Jiang; Zhengrong Zhang; You Zheng; Zhongyi Wang; Yichao Zhu; Lihua Gao; Xiaoning Wang; Qiang Sun

The expression of TMPRSS2 also shows a tissue-specific pattern, but is different from that of ACE2 in terms of tissue distribution ( Figure 1A , 1C, S1B and S1E). And 5 tissues co-expressing relatively high mRNA levels of TMPRSS2 and ACE2 include small intestine, colon, thyroid gland, kidney and breast. At protein level, only small intestine and kidney show co-expression. Interestingly, prostate expresses the highest TMPRSS2 mRNA but undetectable ACE2. These results suggest that TMPRSS2 and ACE2 are not often co-expressed in the same tissues. Notably, considerable TMPRSS2 mRNA is expressed in lung, the target tissue of SARS-CoV-2 virus, which is consistent with a promoting role of TMPRSS2 in SARS-CoV-2 infection.