Knowing the specific and likely target cells of the virus in the heart provides crucial information necessary to understand the mechanisms of damage, and guide treatment choices.” Virus enters the tear ducts "We analysed around 500,000 single cells from 14 human hearts and identified three types of cells that express the entry receptor: pericytes, which are found in the network of small blood vessels in the heart cardiac muscle cells and fibroblasts, the cells that help maintain the heart structure. Thus, it was crucial to investigate how the virus could enter heart cells, by mapping the location of the SARS-CoV-2 receptor in the heart, and the proteases that enable the virus to gain entry to cells. The researchers looked for which individual cells expressed both of two key entry proteins that are used by the COVID-19 virus to infect our cells.ĭr Michela Noseda, a senior study author from the National Heart and Lung Institute at Imperial, explained the study has revealed crucial insights - not only into how the virus gains access to the body, but also how the virus could target organs outside of the airways and leading to a systemic disease: “Heart tissue damage and consequent heart failure is observed in up to 20 per cent of COVID-19 patients. In the current paper, scientists analysed genomic data from more than 20 different tissues of non-infected people.
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While it is known that SARS-CoV-2 uses a similar mechanism to infect our cells as a related coronavirus that caused the 2003 SARS epidemic, the exact cell types of entry and the target cells that can be reached by the virus after the initial infection had not previously been pinpointed. Scientists across the world are trying to understand exactly how the COVID-19 virus spreads, to help prevent transmission and develop a vaccine as well as understanding the mechanisms that lead to a devastating systemic disease in some patients.
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The first is a receptor protein that the virus can dock to, while the second is a so-called protease that activates viral entry into the cell. The SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus requires two key proteins, called ACE2 and TMPRSS2, to enter human cells. The team, which includes researchers from the Wellcome Sanger Institute, University Medical Centre Groningen, University Cote d’Azur and CNRS, Nice, say the findings could help explain the high transmission rate of COVID-19. Scientists found these cells have high levels of the entry proteins that the COVID-19 virus uses to get into our cells. The findings, published in the journal Nature Medicine, highlight two specific cell types in the nose – called goblet and ciliated cells, as likely initial infection points for COVID-19. Heart tissue damage and consequent heart failure is observed in up to 20 per cent of COVID-19 patients.
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Receptors were also found in the intestines and in vital organs such as the heart. The research, from a number of international institutions including Imperial College London, has so far identified likely initial infection points for SARS-CoV-2 (the virus causing COVID-19) in the nose and eyes. Scientists are creating a map of the human body to identify locations where the COVID-19 virus can enter human cells.