SARS‐CoV‐2 receptor ACE2 and TMPRSS2 are primarily expressed in bronchial transient secretory cells
The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic affecting the human respiratory system severely challenges public health and urgently demands for increasing our understanding of COVID-19 pathogenesis, especially host factors facilitating virus infection and replication. SARS-CoV-2 was reported to enter cells via binding to ACE2, followed by its priming by TMPRSS2. Here, we investigate ACE2 and TMPRSS2 expression levels and their distribution across cell types in lung tissue (twelve donors, 39,778 cells) and in cells derived from subsegmental bronchial branches (four donors, 17,521 cells) by single nuclei and single cell RNA sequencing, respectively. While TMPRSS2 is expressed in both tissues, in the subsegmental bronchial branches ACE2 is predominantly expressed in a transient secretory cell type. Interestingly, these transiently differentiating cells show an enrichment for pathways related to RHO GTPase function and viral processes suggesting increased vulnerability for SARS-CoV-2 infection. Our data provide a rich resource for future investigations of COVID-19 infection and pathogenesis.
SARS‐CoV‐2 receptor ACE2 and TMPRSS2 are primarily expressed in bronchial transient secretory cells (Official HCA Publication)
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Atlas
Analysis Portals

Project Label
SARS_COV_2_receptorsBronchialSpecies
Homo sapiens
Sample Type
Anatomical Entity
lung
Organ Part
Unspecified
Selected Cell Types
Unspecified
Model Organ
lung
Disease Status (Specimen)
normal
Disease Status (Donor)
Development Stage
human adult stage
Library Construction Method
10x 3' v2
Nucleic Acid Source
Paired End
falseAnalysis Protocol
matrix_processingFile Format
Cell Count Estimate
57.3kDonor Count
16