J Med Virol . SARS-CoV-2 Delta Variant infects ACE2 low primary human bronchial epithelial cells more efficiently than other variants

[tetano]

J Med Virol


. 2021 Oct 1.
doi: 10.1002/jmv.27372. Online ahead of print.
SARS-CoV-2 Delta Variant infects ACE2 [SUP]low[/SUP] primary human bronchial epithelial cells more efficiently than other variants


Hongmei Li[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Ting Liu[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Liping Wang[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Minghui Wang[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Shaoqing Wang[SUP] 1 [/SUP]



Affiliations

• PMID: 34596249
• DOI: 10.1002/jmv.27372

Abstract

SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant has become the predominant circulating variant around the globe. Here we report that the Delta variant Spike protein appears to confer greater infectivity on primary human airway cells in which only low levels of ACE2 are found. Our data suggests that the Delta variant virus may be able to infect cells lining the respiratory tract in individuals even when there is very little ACE2. This finding sheds important light to understanding why Delta variant exhibits greater transmissibility and became the predominant circulating SARS-CoV-2 variant in the world. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Coronavirus < Virus classification; Epidemiology; Infection; SARS coronavirus < Virus classification.