Relative Abundance of SARS-CoV-2 Entry Genes in the Enterocytes of the Lower Gastrointestinal Tract
Jaewon J. Lee, Scott Kopetz, Eduardo Vilar, John Paul Shen, Ken Chen, Anirban Maitra
Abstract
There is increasing evidence of gastrointestinal (GI) infection by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). We surveyed the co-expression of SARS-CoV-2 entry genes ACE2 and TMPRSS2 throughout the GI tract to assess potential sites of infection. Publicly available and in-house single-cell RNA-sequencing datasets from the GI tract were queried. Enterocytes from the small intestine and colonocytes showed the highest proportions of cells co-expressing ACE2 and TMPRSS2. Therefore, the lower GI tract represents the most likely site of SARS-CoV-2 entry leading to GI infection.
Topics & Concepts
Gastrointestinal tractRespiratory tractTMPRSS2BiologyGeneCoronavirusSevere acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)VirologyRespiratory tract infectionsImmunologyRespiratory systemMedicineInternal medicineGeneticsAnatomyBiochemistryDiseaseInfectious disease (medical specialty)SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 ResearchCOVID-19 Clinical Research StudiesSingle-cell and spatial transcriptomics