2. Academic Validation
  3. SARS-CoV-2 Host Receptor ACE2 Protein Expression Atlas in Human Gastrointestinal Tract

SARS-CoV-2 Host Receptor ACE2 Protein Expression Atlas in Human Gastrointestinal Tract

  • Front Cell Dev Biol. 2021 Jun 11;9:659809. doi: 10.3389/fcell.2021.659809.
Xiang An 1,  Wenlong Lin 1,  Huan Liu 1,  Weixiang Zhong 2,  Xiuming Zhang 2,  Yimin Zhu 3,  Xiaojian Wang 1,  Jun Li 2,  Qinsong Sheng 4
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 Institute of Immunology and Bone Marrow Transplantation Center, The First Affiliated Hospital, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China.
  • 2 Department of Pathology, The First Affiliated Hospital, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China.
  • 3 Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China.
  • 4 Department of Colorectal Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China.
PMID: 34178985 DOI: 10.3389/fcell.2021.659809
Abstract

Background: Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infects host cells through interactions with its receptor, Angiotensin-converting Enzyme 2 (ACE2), causing severe acute respiratory syndrome and death in a considerable proportion of people. Patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 experience digestive symptoms. However, the precise protein expression atlas of ACE2 in the gastrointestinal tract remains unclear. In this study, we aimed to explore the ACE2 protein expression pattern and the underlying function of ACE2 in the gastrointestinal tract, including the colon, stomach, liver, and pancreas.

Methods: We measured the protein expression of ACE2 in the gastrointestinal tract using immunohistochemical (IHC) staining with an ACE2-specific antibody of paraffin-embedded colon, stomach, liver, and pancreatic tissues. The correlation between the protein expression of ACE2 and the prognosis of patients with gastrointestinal cancers was analyzed by the log-rank (Mantel-Cox) test. The influence of ACE2 on colon, stomach, liver, and pancreatic tumor cell line proliferation was tested using a Cell Counting Kit 8 (CCK-8) assay.

Results: ACE2 presented heterogeneous expression patterns in the gastrointestinal tract, and it showed a punctate distribution in hepatic cells. Compared to that in parallel adjacent non-tumor tissues, the protein expression of ACE2 was significantly increased in colon Cancer, stomach Cancer, and pancreatic Cancer tissues but dramatically decreased in liver Cancer tissues. However, the expression level of the ACE2 protein was not correlated with the survival of patients with gastrointestinal cancers. Consistently, ACE2 did not affect the proliferation of gastrointestinal Cancer cells in vitro.

Conclusion: The ACE2 protein is widely expressed in the gastrointestinal tract, and its expression is significantly altered in gastrointestinal tumor tissues. ACE2 is not an independent prognostic marker of gastrointestinal cancers.

Keywords

ACE2; gastrointestinal; gastrointestinal cancers; immunohistochemistry; prognosis.

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