Damaged Telomeres in Elders Might Increase Susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2 Virus, Says Study

Heidelberg, December 3: According to a group of Italian and American researchers led by Fabrizio d'Adda di Fagagna, the expression of the cell receptor for the SARS-CoV-2 virus, ACE2 which is essential for mediating cell entry of the virus, increases in the lungs of ageing mice and humans.

This research has been published in the 'EMBO Reports Journal'. Also Read | Pune Shocker: Woman Duped of Rs 91,000 by Man She Met on Matrimonial Platform.

They further showed that ACE2 expression increased upon telomere shortening or dysfunction -- common hallmarks of ageing -- in cultured human cells and in mice. This increase depended on a DNA damage response elicited by dysfunctional telomeres. Also Read | Tadap Movie Review: Ahan Shetty and Tara Sutaria’s Love Story is Ruled by Angry Punches and Passionate Kisses (First Impression).

The reasons for the higher probability of severe symptoms and death in the elderly in response to a SARS-CoV-2 infection remained unclear. ACE2 expression had been positively related to patients' age, for example in the nasal epithelium, the first point of contact with SARS-CoV-2. Lower ACE2 expression in children relative to adults may explain why COVID-19 was less prevalent in children, and the expression and distribution of the ACE2 receptor may be relevant for the progression and prognosis of COVID-19.

The research findings showed that ACE2 protein expression is elevated in ageing human and mouse lungs, including in alveolar epithelial type II cells (ATII). In the lungs, ACE2 is mostly found on the surface of ATII cells, and these cells are thus likely the primary target of SARS-CoV-2 infection in the lungs.

SARS-CoV-2 is mainly spread via respiratory droplets and the lung is the first target organ of the virus. Indeed, pneumonia is the most common complication seen in COVID-19 patients, at an occurrence of 91 per cent.

In order to reveal the molecular mechanism underlying the upregulation of ACE2 during ageing, the researchers turned to in vitro and in vivo models that recapitulate some key aspects of ageing. Ageing is associated with telomere shortening and damage in a range of tissues in different species, including humans.

Telomeres are the regions at the ends of linear chromosomes that are essential to protect chromosome ends from shortening during repeated cell replication cycles, which would result in the loss of crucial genetic information. When telomeres become critically short, they are sensed as DNA breaks and activate DNA damage response pathways.

D'Adda di Fagagna working at IFOM in Milan and CNR-IGM in Pavia and colleagues either inhibited the general DNA damage response by targeting ATM, a major enzyme of the DNA damage response pathway, or they inhibited the telomeric DNA damage response specifically using telomeric antisense oligonucleotides (tASO).

Both approaches prevented ACE2 gene and protein upregulation following telomere damage in ageing cultured cells and in mice. The group also used a cell culture model in which the DNA damage response was activated specifically at telomeres in the absence of telomere shortening, with the same results.

These findings indicated that it is the DNA damage response activation, rather than telomeric shortening per se, that is responsible for ACE2 upregulation. Understanding the mechanism of age susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2 infection was important for targeted therapeutic approaches, which might in principle include the use of tASO-mediated inhibition of the telomeric DNA damage response.

ACE2 also has a role in the regulation of blood pressure and the balance of fluids and salts and is expressed in other human tissues, for example, the heart and kidney. The findings reported here may thus also have broader medical implications beyond COVID-19.

However, further research is needed to establish whether reducing ACE2 expression has beneficial effects on SARS-CoV-2 infection rates and on the severity of COVID-19 symptoms in vivo models. Further work also needed to be carried out to understand how DNA damage response signalling to increased ACE2 gene expression.

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