Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: EC:3.4.24.B1 (angiotensin-converting enzyme 2)
 1,025 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

The pandemic caused by the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has resulted in several thousand deaths worldwide in just a few months. Patients who died from Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) often had comorbidities, such as hypertension, diabetes, and chronic obstructive lung disease. The angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) was identified as a crucial factor that facilitates SARS-CoV2 to bind and enter host cells. To date, no study has assessed the ACE2 expression in the lungs of patients with these diseases. Here, we analyzed over 700 lung transcriptome samples of patients with comorbidities associated with severe COVID-19 and found that ACE2 was highly expressed in these patients, compared to control individuals. This finding suggests that patients with such comorbidities may have higher chances of developing severe COVID-19. We also found other genes, such as RAB1A, that can be important for SARS-CoV-2 infection in the lung. Correlation and network analyses revealed many potential regulators of ACE2 in the human lung, including genes related to histone modifications, such as HAT1, HDAC2, and KDM5B. In fact, epigenetic marks found in ACE2 locus were compatible to with those promoted by KDM5B. Our systems biology approach offers a possible explanation for increase of COVID-19 severity in patients with certain comorbidities.
 ...
PMID:ACE2 Expression is Increased in the Lungs of Patients with Comorbidities Associated with Severe COVID-19. 3252 12

Patients who died from COVID-19 often had comorbidities, such as hypertension, diabetes, and chronic obstructive lung disease. Although angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) is crucial for SARS-CoV-2 to bind and enter host cells, no study has systematically assessed the ACE2 expression in the lungs of patients with these diseases. Here, we analyzed over 700 lung transcriptome samples from patients with comorbidities associated with severe COVID-19 and found that ACE2 was highly expressed in these patients compared to control individuals. This finding suggests that patients with such comorbidities may have higher chances of developing severe COVID-19. Correlation and network analyses revealed many potential regulators of ACE2 in the human lung, including genes related to histone modifications, such as HAT1, HDAC2, and KDM5B. Our systems biology approach offers a possible explanation for increased COVID-19 severity in patients with certain comorbidities.
 ...
PMID:ACE2 Expression Is Increased in the Lungs of Patients With Comorbidities Associated With Severe COVID-19. 3251 27

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-2019) outbreak originating in December 2019 in Wuhan, China has emerged as a global threat to human health. The highly contagious SARS-CoV-2 infection and transmission presents a diversity of human host and increased disease risk with advancing age, highlighting the importance of in-depth understanding of its biological properties. Structural analyses have elucidated hot spots in viral binding domains, mutations, and specific proteins in the host such as the receptor angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) and the transmembrane protease serine 2 (TMPRSS2) to be implicated in cell entry and viral infectivity. Furthermore, epigenetic changes that regulate chromatin structure have shown a major impact in genome stabilization and maintenance of cellular homoeostasis and they have been implicated in the pathophysiology of the virus infection. Epigenetic research has revealed that global DNA methylation along with ACE2 gene methylation and post-translational histone modifications may drive differences in host tissue-, biological age- and sex-biased patterns of viral infection. Moreover, modulation of the host cells epigenetic landscape following infection represents a molecular tool used by viruses to antagonize cellular signalling as well as sensing components that regulate the induction of the host innate immune and antiviral defence programmes in order to enhance viral replication and infection efficiency. In this review, we provide an update of the main research findings at the interface of epigenetics and coronavirus infection. In particular, we highlight the epigenetic factors that interfere with viral replication and infection and may contribute to COVID-19 susceptibility, offering new ways of thinking in respect to host viral response.
 ...
PMID:Epigenetic mechanisms regulating COVID-19 infection. 3268 77