COVID-19, a novel identified coronavirus disease due to Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome coronaviruses 2 (SARS-Cov-2) infection, has posed a significant threat to public health worldwide. It has been reported COVID-19 keeps substantial nucleotide similarity and shares common receptor, Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) with Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome coronaviruses (SARS-Cov). Here, we investigated the gene expression of ACE2 and identified associated pathways of SARS-Cov as a useful reference for a deepening understanding of COVID-19. The results indicated the ACE2 was overexpressed in human airway epithelial cells (HAEs), especially at 72 h after SARS-Cov infection. We found ACE2 might regulate immune response through immunological activation-associated pathways in the process of in both SARS-Cov and SARS-Cov-2 infection, where the activation of B cells, macrophages, helper T cells 1 (Th1 cells) and the inhibition of Foxp3 + regulatory T (Treg) cells and CD8 + T cells were found to be prominent. Finally, significant correlation between ACE2 and JAK-STAT signaling pathway was identified which indicate that JAK-STAT signaling pathway might involve in the downstream action of the overactivation of ACE2. These findings are expected to gain a further insight into the action mechanism of COVID-19 infection and provide a promising target for designing effective therapeutic strategies.
Keywords: ACE2; COVID-19; Immune cell; JAK-STAT signaling pathway; Signal-gene GSEA.
Copyright © 2020. Published by Elsevier B.V.