Research progress on the expression and distribution of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 receptor angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 in ocular tissues / 国际眼科杂志(Guoji Yanke Zazhi)

ABSTRACT

Since 2019,severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2(SARS-CoV-2)posed a great threat to human health and social economy, which has brought out hundreds of millions infection and caused millions of deaths worldwide. With the increasing research on SARS-CoV-2, angiotensin-converting enzyme 2(ACE2)has been regarded as a significant functional receptor for SARS-CoV-2 invasion. ACE2 is distributed in many tissues of human body, not only expressed in lung, cardiovascular, kidney tissues, but also in conjunctiva, cornea, uvea, retina and optic nerve tissue. More and more cases of SARS-CoV-2 infection through ocular tissues have been found; however, whether ocular ACE2 plays a role in SARS-CoV-2 infection is not completely clear. Therefore, study on expression and distribution of ACE2 in the ocular tissues can not only provide an in-depth understanding of the mechanism of SARS-CoV-2 infection, but also supply a comprehensive acquaintance with the mechanism of ACE2 action in the ocular tissues. In this paper, we review recent research progress about the expression and distribution of ACE2 in ocular tissues and hope to better understand the mechanism of ACE2 in the pathophysiological processes of ocular tissues.