High expression of ACE2 in the human lung leads to the release of IL6 by suppressing cellular immunity: IL6 plays a key role in COVID-19

Z. Bao, L.-J. Wang, K. He, X. Lin, T. Yu, J. Li, J. Gong, G. Xiang

Department of General Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Jinan University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, P.R. China. GuoanX_fimmu_edu@163.com

 

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• Infectious Diseases

OBJECTIVE: The pathogenesis of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) remains clear, and no effective treatment exists. SARS-CoV-2 is the virus that causes COVID-19 and uses ACE2 as a cell receptor to invade human cells. Therefore, ACE2 is a key factor to analyze the SARS-CoV-2 infection mechanism.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: We included 9,783 sequencing results of different organs, analyzed the effects of different ACE2 expression patterns in organs and immune regulation.

RESULTS: We found that ACE2 expression was significantly increased in the lungs and digestive tract. The cellular immunity of individuals with elevated ACE2 expression is activated, whereas humoral immunity is dampened, leading to the release of many inflammatory factors dominated by IL6. Furthermore, by studying the sequencing results of SARS-CoV-2-infected and uninfected cells, IL6 was found to be an indicator of a significant increase in the number of infected cells. However, although patients with high expression of ACE2 will release many inflammatory factors dominated by IL6, cellular immunity in the colorectum is significantly activated. This effect may explain why individuals with SARS-CoV-2 infection have severe lung symptoms and digestion issues, which are important causes of milder symptoms.

CONCLUSIONS: This finding indicates that ACE2 and IL6 inhibitors have important value in COVID-19.

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