Recent advance of ACE2 and microbiota dysfunction in COVID-19 pathogenesis

Zhidan Yu; Zhaojie Yang; Yuesheng Wang; Fang Zhou; Suli Li; Chan Li; Lifeng Li; Wancun Zhang; Xiaoqin Li

doi:10.1016/j.heliyon.2021.e07548

Recent advance of ACE2 and microbiota dysfunction in COVID-19 pathogenesis

Heliyon. 2021 Jul 10;7(7):e07548. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2021.e07548. eCollection 2021 Jul.

Authors

Zhidan Yu¹, Zhaojie Yang², Yuesheng Wang¹, Fang Zhou¹, Suli Li¹, Chan Li³, Lifeng Li¹, Wancun Zhang¹, Xiaoqin Li¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Gastroenterology, Henan Key Laboratory of Children's Genetics and Metabolic Diseases, Children's Hospital Affiliated to Zhengzhou University, Henan Children's Hospital, Zhengzhou Children's Hospital, Zhengzhou, 450018, China.
² The Sixth People's Hospital of Zhengzhou, Zhengzhou 450000, China.
³ Department of Biostatistics, University at Buffalo, 208 Norton Hall, Buffalo, NY 14260-1800, USA.

Abstract

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) caused the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and has become the world's most pressing public health threat. Although not as common as respiratory symptoms, a substantial proportion of patients with COVID-19 presented the gastrointestinal symptoms. ACE2, as the receptor of SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2, is highly expressed in the epithelia of the epithelium cells in lung and intestine. In addition, ACE2 is essential for the innate immunity, amino acid transportation and the homeostasis of intestinal microecology. The composition of gut microbiota in COVID-19 patients was altered and concordant with inflammatory, which may explain the gastrointestinal symptoms in patients. Here we reviewed and discussed the evolving role for ACE2 and gut microbiota in SARS-CoV-2 infection which might provide innovative approaches to targeting ACE2 and gut microbiota for the COVID-19 therapy.

Keywords: Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2; Coronavirus disease 2019; Gut microbiota; Respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2.

Publication types

Review