tetano
Editor, Senior Moderator
Front Cardiovasc Med
. 2021 Nov 30;8:757362.
doi: 10.3389/fcvm.2021.757362. eCollection 2021.
Detailed Analyses of the Expression Patterns of Potential Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 Receptors in the Human Heart Using Single-Nucleus RNA Sequencing
Jie Ren[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Yuze Zhang[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Shishi Liu[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Xiangjie Li[SUP] 3 [/SUP], Xiaogang Sun[SUP] 1 [/SUP]
Affiliations
Abstract
Cardiac injury is a common complication of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), but the exact mechanisms have not been completely elucidated. The virus receptors on subsets of cells are key determinants of susceptibility to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection. Due to its high sequence similarity to SARS-CoV, SARS-CoV-2 also utilizes ACE2 as the cell entry receptor. A growing number of studies have indicated that other receptors apart from ACE2 are involved in SARS-CoV-2 infection. This study aimed to elucidate the expression characteristics of SARS-CoV-2 cellular receptors in the heart. We first investigated ACE2 expression in a comprehensive transcriptional landscape of the human heart comprising single-nucleus RNA-seq (snRNA-seq) data for >280,000 cells. Then, the expression distributions of novel SARS-CoV-2 receptors were analyzed at the single-cell level to clarify the cardiovascular complications in COVID-19. We observed a higher percentage of ACE2-positive cells in pericytes (8.3%), fibroblasts (5.1%), and adipocytes (4.4%) in the human heart, compared to other cell types. The frequency of ACE2-positive cells in each cell type from the ventricles was significantly higher than that in the atria, suggesting that the ventricular cells are more susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 infection. The distribution patterns of other receptors (BSG, HSPA5, KREMEN1, NRP1, ANPEP, AXL) were significantly different from those of ACE2, demonstrating higher expression levels in ventricular cardiomyocytes. Moreover, our results suggest that fibroblasts and adipocytes, aside from pericytes, may be vulnerable targets for SARS-CoV-2 infection in the human heart. Our study presents potential targets for future clinical studies and interventions for cardiac injury in patients with COVID-19.
Keywords: ACE2; SARS-CoV-2; cardiac injury; cellular receptors; expression features.
. 2021 Nov 30;8:757362.
doi: 10.3389/fcvm.2021.757362. eCollection 2021.
Detailed Analyses of the Expression Patterns of Potential Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 Receptors in the Human Heart Using Single-Nucleus RNA Sequencing
Jie Ren[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Yuze Zhang[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Shishi Liu[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Xiangjie Li[SUP] 3 [/SUP], Xiaogang Sun[SUP] 1 [/SUP]
Affiliations
- PMID: 34917662
- PMCID: PMC8669371
- DOI: 10.3389/fcvm.2021.757362
Abstract
Cardiac injury is a common complication of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), but the exact mechanisms have not been completely elucidated. The virus receptors on subsets of cells are key determinants of susceptibility to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection. Due to its high sequence similarity to SARS-CoV, SARS-CoV-2 also utilizes ACE2 as the cell entry receptor. A growing number of studies have indicated that other receptors apart from ACE2 are involved in SARS-CoV-2 infection. This study aimed to elucidate the expression characteristics of SARS-CoV-2 cellular receptors in the heart. We first investigated ACE2 expression in a comprehensive transcriptional landscape of the human heart comprising single-nucleus RNA-seq (snRNA-seq) data for >280,000 cells. Then, the expression distributions of novel SARS-CoV-2 receptors were analyzed at the single-cell level to clarify the cardiovascular complications in COVID-19. We observed a higher percentage of ACE2-positive cells in pericytes (8.3%), fibroblasts (5.1%), and adipocytes (4.4%) in the human heart, compared to other cell types. The frequency of ACE2-positive cells in each cell type from the ventricles was significantly higher than that in the atria, suggesting that the ventricular cells are more susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 infection. The distribution patterns of other receptors (BSG, HSPA5, KREMEN1, NRP1, ANPEP, AXL) were significantly different from those of ACE2, demonstrating higher expression levels in ventricular cardiomyocytes. Moreover, our results suggest that fibroblasts and adipocytes, aside from pericytes, may be vulnerable targets for SARS-CoV-2 infection in the human heart. Our study presents potential targets for future clinical studies and interventions for cardiac injury in patients with COVID-19.
Keywords: ACE2; SARS-CoV-2; cardiac injury; cellular receptors; expression features.