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Single-cell meta-analysis of SARS-CoV-2 entry genes across tissues and demographics

  • The NHLBI LungMap Consortium
  • , The Human Cell Atlas Lung Biological Network
  • Broad Institute
  • Harvard University
  • Helmholtz Zentrum München - German Research Center for Environmental Health
  • MGH Cancer Center
  • Massachusetts General Hospital
  • Duke University
  • Massachusetts Institute of Technology
  • University of California at San Diego
  • Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
  • Whitehead Institute
  • Yale University
  • KTH Royal Institute of Technology
  • University of Bonn
  • Université Côte d'Azur
  • Wellcome Sanger Institute
  • Karolinska Institutet
  • Translational Genomics Research Institute
  • Boston University
  • Hannover Medical School
  • German Center for Infectious Diseases (DZIF)
  • European Molecular Biology Laboratory
  • Technical University of Munich
  • University of Cambridge

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

294 Scopus citations

Abstract

Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) and accessory proteases (TMPRSS2 and CTSL) are needed for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) cellular entry, and their expression may shed light on viral tropism and impact across the body. We assessed the cell-type-specific expression of ACE2, TMPRSS2 and CTSL across 107 single-cell RNA-sequencing studies from different tissues. ACE2, TMPRSS2 and CTSL are coexpressed in specific subsets of respiratory epithelial cells in the nasal passages, airways and alveoli, and in cells from other organs associated with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) transmission or pathology. We performed a meta-analysis of 31 lung single-cell RNA-sequencing studies with 1,320,896 cells from 377 nasal, airway and lung parenchyma samples from 228 individuals. This revealed cell-type-specific associations of age, sex and smoking with expression levels of ACE2, TMPRSS2 and CTSL. Expression of entry factors increased with age and in males, including in airway secretory cells and alveolar type 2 cells. Expression programs shared by ACE2+TMPRSS2+ cells in nasal, lung and gut tissues included genes that may mediate viral entry, key immune functions and epithelial–macrophage cross-talk, such as genes involved in the interleukin-6, interleukin-1, tumor necrosis factor and complement pathways. Cell-type-specific expression patterns may contribute to the pathogenesis of COVID-19, and our work highlights putative molecular pathways for therapeutic intervention.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)546-559
Number of pages14
JournalNature Medicine
Volume27
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - Mar 2021

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2021, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature America, Inc.

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