Clinical analysis and pluripotent stem cells-based model reveal possible impacts of ACE2 and lung progenitor cells on infants vulnerable to COVID-19.

ABSTRACT: Introduction: An increasing number of children with severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is being reported, yet the spectrum of disease severity and expression patterns of angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) in children at different developmental stages are largely unknow. Methods: We analysed clinical features in a cohort of 173 children with COVID-19 (0-15 yrs.-old) between January 22, 2020 and March 15, 2020. We systematically examined the expression and distribution of ACE2 in different developmental stages of children by using a combination of children's lung biopsies, pluripotent stem cell-derived lung cells, RNA-sequencing profiles, and ex vivo SARS-CoV-2 pseudoviral infections. Results: It revealed that infants (< 1yrs.-old), with a weake

SUBMITTER: Zhang Z 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7797681 | biostudies-literature | 2021

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature