SARS-CoV-2 entry factors are highly expressed in nasal epithelial cells together with innate immune genes
Waradon Sungnak, Ni Huang, Christophe Bécavin, Marijn Berg, Rachel Queen, Monika Litvinukova, Carlos Talavera-López, Henrike Maatz, Daniel Reichart, Fotios Sampaziotis, Kaylee B Worlock, Masahiro Yoshida, Josephine L Barnes, HCA Lung Biological Network, Nicholas E Banovich, Pascal Barbry, Alvis Brazma, Joseph Collin, Tushar J Desai, Thu Elizabeth Duong, Oliver Eickelberg, Christine Falk, Michael Farzan, Ian Glass, Ravindra K Gupta, Muzlifah Haniffa, Peter Horvath, Norbert Hubner, Deborah Hung, Naftali Kaminski, Mark Krasnow, Jonathan A Kropski, Malte Kuhnemund, Majlinda Lako, Haeock Lee, Sylvie Leroy, Sten Linnarson, Joakim Lundeberg, Kerstin B Meyer, Zhichao Miao, Alexander V Misharin, Martijn C Nawijn, Marko Z Nikolic, Michela Noseda, Jose Ordovas-Montanes, Gavin Y Oudit, Dana Pe'er, Joseph Powell, Steve Quake, Jay Rajagopal, Purushothama Rao Tata, Emma L Rawlins, Aviv Regev, Paul A Reyfman, Orit Rozenblatt-Rosen, Kourosh Saeb-Parsy, Christos Samakovlis, Herbert B Schiller, Joachim L Schultze, Max A Seibold, Christine E Seidman, Jonathan G Seidman, Alex K Shalek, Douglas Shepherd, Jason Spence, Avi Spira, Xin Sun, Sarah A Teichmann, Fabian J Theis, Alexander M Tsankov, Ludovic Vallier, Maarten van den Berge, Jeffrey Whitsett, Ramnik Xavier, Yan Xu, Laure-Emmanuelle Zaragosi, Darin Zerti, Hongbo Zhang, Kun Zhang, Mauricio Rojas, Francisco Figueiredo, Waradon Sungnak, Ni Huang, Christophe Bécavin, Marijn Berg, Rachel Queen, Monika Litvinukova, Carlos Talavera-López, Henrike Maatz, Daniel Reichart, Fotios Sampaziotis, Kaylee B Worlock, Masahiro Yoshida, Josephine L Barnes, HCA Lung Biological Network, Nicholas E Banovich, Pascal Barbry, Alvis Brazma, Joseph Collin, Tushar J Desai, Thu Elizabeth Duong, Oliver Eickelberg, Christine Falk, Michael Farzan, Ian Glass, Ravindra K Gupta, Muzlifah Haniffa, Peter Horvath, Norbert Hubner, Deborah Hung, Naftali Kaminski, Mark Krasnow, Jonathan A Kropski, Malte Kuhnemund, Majlinda Lako, Haeock Lee, Sylvie Leroy, Sten Linnarson, Joakim Lundeberg, Kerstin B Meyer, Zhichao Miao, Alexander V Misharin, Martijn C Nawijn, Marko Z Nikolic, Michela Noseda, Jose Ordovas-Montanes, Gavin Y Oudit, Dana Pe'er, Joseph Powell, Steve Quake, Jay Rajagopal, Purushothama Rao Tata, Emma L Rawlins, Aviv Regev, Paul A Reyfman, Orit Rozenblatt-Rosen, Kourosh Saeb-Parsy, Christos Samakovlis, Herbert B Schiller, Joachim L Schultze, Max A Seibold, Christine E Seidman, Jonathan G Seidman, Alex K Shalek, Douglas Shepherd, Jason Spence, Avi Spira, Xin Sun, Sarah A Teichmann, Fabian J Theis, Alexander M Tsankov, Ludovic Vallier, Maarten van den Berge, Jeffrey Whitsett, Ramnik Xavier, Yan Xu, Laure-Emmanuelle Zaragosi, Darin Zerti, Hongbo Zhang, Kun Zhang, Mauricio Rojas, Francisco Figueiredo
Abstract
We investigated SARS-CoV-2 potential tropism by surveying expression of viral entry-associated genes in single-cell RNA-sequencing data from multiple tissues from healthy human donors. We co-detected these transcripts in specific respiratory, corneal and intestinal epithelial cells, potentially explaining the high efficiency of SARS-CoV-2 transmission. These genes are co-expressed in nasal epithelial cells with genes involved in innate immunity, highlighting the cells' potential role in initial viral infection, spread and clearance. The study offers a useful resource for further lines of inquiry with valuable clinical samples from COVID-19 patients and we provide our data in a comprehensive, open and user-friendly fashion at www.covid19cellatlas.org.
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Source: PubMed