Research Perspective|Volume 13, Issue 11|pp 14552—14556

The key role of the level of ACE2 gene expression in SARS-CoV-2 infection

Yves Lecarpentier¹, Alexandre Vallée²

¹Centre de Recherche Clinique, Grand Hôpital de l’Est Francilien (GHEF), Meaux, France
²Department of Clinical Research and Innovation, Foch Hospital, Suresnes, France

Received: May 14, 2021Accepted: June 5, 2021Published: June 11, 2021

https://doi.org/10.18632/aging.203181

Copyright: © 2021 Lecarpentier and Vallée. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Abstract

SARS-CoV-2 more readily affects the elderly, especially as they present co-morbidities. In the COVID-19 pathogeny, ACE2 appears to be the key cell receptor for SARS-CoV-2 to infect humans. The level of ACE2 gene expression influences the susceptibility of contracting SARS-CoV-2. In circumstances in which the ACE2 level is low, the incidence of Covid-19 seems to be fewer. Two clinical patterns illustrate this observation, i. e., in infants and in Alzheimer's disease (AD). Very young children and AD patients get little COVID-19, in part probably due to decreased expression of ACE2. The determination of the nasal level of ACE2 gene expression could provide a useful scale to predict the susceptibility to contract the SARS-CoV-2 infection.