Enhanced expression of angiotensin‐converting enzyme 2 in psoriatic skin and its upregulation in keratinocytes by interferon‐γ: implication of inflammatory milieu in skin tropism of SARS‐CoV‐2
Manoj Kumar Tembhre, Anita Parihar, Virender K. Sharma, Shafaque Imran, Neetu Bhari, R. Lakshmy, Ashish Bhalla
Abstract
The novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) is a challenging situation globally due to its contagion nature. SARS-CoV-2 enters the host cell by interacting with the ACE2 (angiotensin converting enzyme 2) receptor present on cell surface through its receptor-binding domain (RBD) of spike protein (1). Host proteases mainly TMPRSS2 plays a vital role in cleaving the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein thereby enabling the virus to enter host cell via endocytosis. SARS-CoV-2 mainly affects the respiratory system of the infected host, however, its manifestation to other organs have also been reported (2).