Department of Legal Medicine, Teikyo University School of Medicine, 2-11-1, Kaga, Itabashi-ku, Tokyo, 173-8605, Japan.
BMC Res Notes. 2022 Apr 21;15(1):144. doi: 10.1186/s13104-022-06031-1.
SARS-CoV-2 is the cause of COVID-19, the rapidly spreading pandemic. When SARS-CoV-2 enters the target cells in the respiratory system, the spike glycoprotein binds to a cellular receptor angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ACE2). The susceptibility to infection in individuals under 20 years of age is approximately half that of adults aged over 20 years. In this study, we investigated the immunohistochemical protein expressions of ACE2 in mandibular salivary glands and tracheal glands from forensic autopsy specimens covering adults and children.
The ACE2 immunohistochemistry of autopsy specimens was performed, and the percentages of the immuno-positive areas in the cell layers of the glands were calculated. Our results demonstrate that the ACE2 positivity in mandibular salivary gland and tracheal glands showed the statistically significant decrease with the increase of age, which indicates that the susceptibility of aged individuals to SARS-CoV-2 may be due to various factors including but not limited to ACE2 protein expressions.
SARS-CoV-2 是 COVID-19（一种快速传播的大流行疾病）的病原体。当 SARS-CoV-2 进入呼吸系统中的靶细胞时，刺突糖蛋白与细胞受体血管紧张素转换酶 2（ACE2）结合。20 岁以下个体的易感性约为 20 岁以上成年人的一半。在这项研究中，我们调查了法医尸检标本中下颌唾液腺和气管腺中 ACE2 的免疫组织化学蛋白表达。
进行了尸检标本的 ACE2 免疫组织化学染色，并计算了腺体细胞层中免疫阳性区域的百分比。我们的结果表明，下颌唾液腺和气管腺中的 ACE2 阳性率随着年龄的增长呈统计学显著下降，这表明老年人对 SARS-CoV-2 的易感性可能是由于多种因素造成的，包括但不限于 ACE2 蛋白表达。
