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SARS ‐CoV‐2 receptor ACE 2 and TMPRSS 2 are primarily expressed in bronchial transient secretory cells
Author(s) -
Lukassen Soeren,
Chua Robert Lorenz,
Trefzer Timo,
Kahn Nicolas C,
Schneider Marc A,
Muley Thomas,
Winter Hauke,
Meister Michael,
Veith Carmen,
Boots Agnes W,
Hennig Bianca P,
Kreuter Michael,
Conrad Christian,
Eils Roland
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
the embo journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 7.484
H-Index - 392
eISSN - 1460-2075
pISSN - 0261-4189
DOI - 10.15252/embj.20105114
Subject(s) - biology , covid-19 , receptor , microbiology and biotechnology , virology , biochemistry , medicine , disease , infectious disease (medical specialty) , pathology , outbreak
The SARS ‐CoV‐2 pandemic affecting the human respiratory system severely challenges public health and urgently demands for increasing our understanding of COVID ‐19 pathogenesis, especially host factors facilitating virus infection and replication. SARS ‐CoV‐2 was reported to enter cells via binding to ACE 2, followed by its priming by TMPRSS 2. Here, we investigate ACE 2 and TMPRSS 2 expression levels and their distribution across cell types in lung tissue (twelve donors, 39,778 cells) and in cells derived from subsegmental bronchial branches (four donors, 17,521 cells) by single nuclei and single cell RNA sequencing, respectively. While TMPRSS 2 is strongly expressed in both tissues, in the subsegmental bronchial branches ACE 2 is predominantly expressed in a transient secretory cell type. Interestingly, these transiently differentiating cells show an enrichment for pathways related to RHO GTP ase function and viral processes suggesting increased vulnerability for SARS ‐CoV‐2 infection. Our data provide a rich resource for future investigations of COVID ‐19 infection and pathogenesis.