April 6, 2021

The Contrasting Role of Nasopharyngeal Angiotensin Converting Enzyme 2 (ACE2) Transcription in SARS-CoV-2 Infection: A Cross-Sectional Study of People Tested for COVID-19 in British Columbia, Canada

Category: Article Summary

Topic: Clinical Characteristics and Health Care Setting

Keywords (Tags): clinical characteristics

• In a cross-sectional study (n=424) of age and sex-matched SARS-CoV-2 positive and negative participants, mean relative expression of both the transmembrane and soluble isoforms of ACE2 was higher in negative participants despite ACE2 serving as the host receptor for SARS-CoV-2 cell entry. When analyzed together and adjusting for other factors, expression of transmembrane ACE2 was positively correlated with viral load while expression of soluble ACE2 was negatively correlated with viral load, suggesting that ACE2 plays dual and contrasting roles in SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Nikiforuk et al. (Apr 2, 2021). The Contrasting Role of Nasopharyngeal Angiotensin Converting Enzyme 2 (ACE2) Transcription in SARS-CoV-2 Infection: A Cross-Sectional Study of People Tested for COVID-19 in British Columbia, Canada. EBioMedicine. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ebiom.2021.103316