The scRNA-seq expression profiling of the receptor ACE2 and the cellular protease TMPRSS2 reveals human organs susceptible to COVID-19 infection

Jing Qi; Yang Zhou; Jiao Hua; Liying Zhang; Jialin Bian; Beibei Liu; Zicen Zhao; Shuilin Jin

Pneumonia spread widely in more than 200 countries, and more than 2,150,000 people were suffering from the disease and over 140,000 people died, posed a major threat to the global public health. is caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), 1 which seriously damaged the respiratory system. Some patients developed acute respiratory infection symptoms, and even acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), acute respiratory failure and other complications. 2,3 2 On the other side, multiple organ dysfunction syndromes occurred in some patients and even led to death, suggesting that the virus invades other organs at the same time. 22 SARS-CoV-2 enters the cell via angiotensin-converting enzyme II (ACE2), the receptor protein of SARS-CoV and NL63, 4-9 while the cellular protease TMPRSS2 promotes the transmission during the viral infection. [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] It is reasonable to predict the risk of organs vulnerable to COVID-19 infection using the expression level of ACE2 and TMPRSS2.