Vascular pharmacology
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Vascular pharmacology · Apr 2021
SARS-CoV-2 spike protein-mediated cell signaling in lung vascular cells.
Currently, the world is suffering from the pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) that uses angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) as a receptor to enter the host cells. So far, 60 million people have been infected with SARS-CoV-2, and 1.4 million people have died because of COVID-19 worldwide, causing serious health, economical, and sociological problems. However, the mechanism of the effect of SARS-CoV-2 on human host cells has not been defined. ⋯ The recombinant protein that contains only the ACE2 receptor-binding domain of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein S1 subunit (Arg319 - Phe541), on the other hand, did not cause this activation. Consistent with the activation of cell growth signaling in lung vascular cells by the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, pulmonary vascular walls were found to be thickened in COVID-19 patients. Thus, SARS-CoV-2 spike protein-mediated cell growth signaling may participate in adverse cardiovascular/pulmonary outcomes, and this mechanism may provide new therapeutic targets to combat COVID-19.