The ACE2 expression in human heart indicates new potential mechanism of heart injury among patients infected with SARS-CoV-2

A new type of pneumonia caused by a novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 outbreaks recently in China and spreads into many other countries. This disease, named as COVID-19, is similar to patients infected by SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV, and nearly 20% of patients developed severe condition. Cardiac injury is a prevalent complication of severe patients, exacerbating the disease severity in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients. Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2), the key host cellular receptor of SARS-CoV-2, has been identified in multiple organs, but its cellular distribution in human heart is not illuminated clearly. This study performed the first state-of-art single cell atlas of adult human heart, and revealed…

• NN
  National Natural Science Foundation of China

  Awards: 2017YFC1200203, COVID-19, 81872673
• FU
  Fudan University
• NK
  National Key Research and Development Program of China

  Award: 2017YFC1200203