美国佛罗里达大学Mark A. Atkinson研究小组揭示SARS-CoV-2进入因子在正常器官供者和COVID-19个体的胰腺表达。相关论文于2020年11月13日在线发表于国际学术期刊《细胞—代谢》。

文献表明SARS-CoV-2感染与糖尿病诱发之间可能存在关联，研究人员检查了胰腺表达的血管紧张素转化酶2（ACE2），这是SARS-CoV-2感染的关键进入因素。具体来说，研究人员分析了五个公共scRNA-seq胰腺数据集，并对荧光素ACE2进行了荧光原位杂交、蛋白质印迹和免疫定位，而且对正常人和COVID-19病人的胰腺组织进行了广泛的验证。

这些计算机分析和离体分析表明，ACE2在胰腺导管上皮和微脉管系统中有突出表达，但研究人员发现在mRNA水平上罕见的内分泌细胞表达。来自患有COVID-19的个体的胰腺表现出多处血栓性病变，其SARS-CoV-2核衣壳蛋白表达主要限于导管。

这些结果表明，通过ACE2感染胰腺内分泌细胞的SARS-CoV-2不大可能是COVID-19相关糖尿病的核心致病特征。

据悉，糖尿病与SARS-CoV-2的死亡率增加相关。

附：英文原文

Title: Expression of SARS-CoV-2 Entry Factors in the Pancreas of Normal Organ Donors and Individuals with COVID-19

Author: Irina Kusmartseva, Wenting Wu, Farooq Syed, Verena Van Der Heide, Marda Jorgensen, Paul Joseph, Xiaohan Tang, Eduardo Candelario-Jalil, Changjun Yang, Harry Nick, Jack L. Harbert, Amanda L. Posgai, John David Paulsen, Richard Lloyd, Sirlene Cechin, Alberto Pugliese, Martha Campbell-Thompson, Richard S. Vander Heide, Carmella Evans-Molina, Dirk Homann, Mark A. Atkinson

Issue&Volume: 2020-11-13

Abstract: Diabetes is associated with increased mortality from Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2). Given literature suggesting a potential association between SARS-CoV-2 infection and diabetes induction, we examined pancreatic expression of angiotensin-converting enzyme-2 (ACE2), the key entry factor for SARS-CoV-2 infection. Specifically, we analyzed five public scRNA-seq pancreas datasets and performed fluorescence in situ hybridization, Western blotting and immunolocalization for ACE2 with extensive reagent validation on normal human pancreatic tissues across the lifespan, as well as those from coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases. These in silico and ex vivo analyses demonstrated prominent expression of ACE2 in pancreatic ductal epithelium and microvasculature, but we found rare endocrine cell expression at the mRNA-level. Pancreata from individuals with COVID-19 demonstrated multiple thrombotic lesions with SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid protein expression that was primarily limited to ducts. These results suggest SARS-CoV-2 infection of pancreatic endocrine cells, via ACE2, is an unlikely central pathogenic feature of COVID-19-related diabetes.

DOI: 10.1016/j.cmet.2020.11.005

Source: https://www.cell.com/cell-metabolism/fulltext/S1550-4131(20)30600-8