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Expression of the COVID‐19 receptor ACE2 in the human conjunctiva

SARS‐CoV‐2 is assumed to use angiotensin‐converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) and other auxiliary proteins for cell entry. Recent studies have described conjunctival congestion in 0.8% of patients with laboratory‐confirmed severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus‐2 (SARS‐CoV‐2), and there has been specul...

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Autores principales: Lange, Clemens, Wolf, Julian, Auw‐Haedrich, Claudia, Schlecht, Anja, Boneva, Stefaniya, Lapp, Thabo, Horres, Ralf, Agostini, Hansjürgen, Martin, Gottfried, Reinhard, Thomas, Schlunck, Günther
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: John Wiley and Sons Inc. 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7267303/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32374427
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/jmv.25981
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author Lange, Clemens
Wolf, Julian
Auw‐Haedrich, Claudia
Schlecht, Anja
Boneva, Stefaniya
Lapp, Thabo
Horres, Ralf
Agostini, Hansjürgen
Martin, Gottfried
Reinhard, Thomas
Schlunck, Günther
author_facet Lange, Clemens
Wolf, Julian
Auw‐Haedrich, Claudia
Schlecht, Anja
Boneva, Stefaniya
Lapp, Thabo
Horres, Ralf
Agostini, Hansjürgen
Martin, Gottfried
Reinhard, Thomas
Schlunck, Günther
author_sort Lange, Clemens
collection PubMed
description SARS‐CoV‐2 is assumed to use angiotensin‐converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) and other auxiliary proteins for cell entry. Recent studies have described conjunctival congestion in 0.8% of patients with laboratory‐confirmed severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus‐2 (SARS‐CoV‐2), and there has been speculation that SARS‐CoV‐2 can be transmitted through the conjunctiva. However, it is currently unclear whether conjunctival epithelial cells express ACE2 and its cofactors. In this study, a total of 38 conjunctival samples from 38 patients, including 12 healthy conjunctivas, 12 melanomas, seven squamous cell carcinomas, and seven papilloma samples, were analyzed using high‐throughput RNA sequencing to assess messenger RNA (mRNA) expression of the SARS‐CoV‐2 receptor ACE2 and its cofactors including TMPRSS2, ANPEP, DPP4, and ENPEP. ACE2 protein expression was assessed in eight healthy conjunctival samples using immunohistochemistry. Our results show that the SARS‐CoV‐2 receptor ACE2 is not substantially expressed in conjunctival samples on the mRNA (median: 0.0 transcripts per million [TPM], min: 0.0 TPM, max: 1.7 TPM) and protein levels. Similar results were obtained for the transcription of other auxiliary molecules. In conclusion, this study finds no evidence for a significant expression of ACE2 and its auxiliary mediators for cell entry in conjunctival samples, making conjunctival infection with SARS‐CoV‐2 via these mediators unlikely.
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spelling pubmed-72673032020-06-03 Expression of the COVID‐19 receptor ACE2 in the human conjunctiva Lange, Clemens Wolf, Julian Auw‐Haedrich, Claudia Schlecht, Anja Boneva, Stefaniya Lapp, Thabo Horres, Ralf Agostini, Hansjürgen Martin, Gottfried Reinhard, Thomas Schlunck, Günther J Med Virol Research Articles SARS‐CoV‐2 is assumed to use angiotensin‐converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) and other auxiliary proteins for cell entry. Recent studies have described conjunctival congestion in 0.8% of patients with laboratory‐confirmed severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus‐2 (SARS‐CoV‐2), and there has been speculation that SARS‐CoV‐2 can be transmitted through the conjunctiva. However, it is currently unclear whether conjunctival epithelial cells express ACE2 and its cofactors. In this study, a total of 38 conjunctival samples from 38 patients, including 12 healthy conjunctivas, 12 melanomas, seven squamous cell carcinomas, and seven papilloma samples, were analyzed using high‐throughput RNA sequencing to assess messenger RNA (mRNA) expression of the SARS‐CoV‐2 receptor ACE2 and its cofactors including TMPRSS2, ANPEP, DPP4, and ENPEP. ACE2 protein expression was assessed in eight healthy conjunctival samples using immunohistochemistry. Our results show that the SARS‐CoV‐2 receptor ACE2 is not substantially expressed in conjunctival samples on the mRNA (median: 0.0 transcripts per million [TPM], min: 0.0 TPM, max: 1.7 TPM) and protein levels. Similar results were obtained for the transcription of other auxiliary molecules. In conclusion, this study finds no evidence for a significant expression of ACE2 and its auxiliary mediators for cell entry in conjunctival samples, making conjunctival infection with SARS‐CoV‐2 via these mediators unlikely. John Wiley and Sons Inc. 2020-07-11 2020-10 /pmc/articles/PMC7267303/ /pubmed/32374427 http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/jmv.25981 Text en © 2020 The Authors. Journal of Medical Virology published by Wiley Periodicals LLC https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article under the terms of the http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Research Articles
Lange, Clemens
Wolf, Julian
Auw‐Haedrich, Claudia
Schlecht, Anja
Boneva, Stefaniya
Lapp, Thabo
Horres, Ralf
Agostini, Hansjürgen
Martin, Gottfried
Reinhard, Thomas
Schlunck, Günther
Expression of the COVID‐19 receptor ACE2 in the human conjunctiva
title Expression of the COVID‐19 receptor ACE2 in the human conjunctiva
title_full Expression of the COVID‐19 receptor ACE2 in the human conjunctiva
title_fullStr Expression of the COVID‐19 receptor ACE2 in the human conjunctiva
title_full_unstemmed Expression of the COVID‐19 receptor ACE2 in the human conjunctiva
title_short Expression of the COVID‐19 receptor ACE2 in the human conjunctiva
title_sort expression of the covid‐19 receptor ace2 in the human conjunctiva
topic Research Articles
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7267303/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32374427
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/jmv.25981
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