COVID-19 Research Perspective Volume 13, Issue 11 pp 14552—14556
The key role of the level of ACE2 gene expression in SARS-CoV-2 infection
- 1 Centre de Recherche Clinique, Grand Hôpital de l’Est Francilien (GHEF), Meaux, France
- 2 Department of Clinical Research and Innovation, Foch Hospital, Suresnes, France
Received: May 14, 2021 Accepted: June 5, 2021 Published: June 11, 2021
https://doi.org/10.18632/aging.203181How to Cite
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.