TY - JOUR T1 - Lung epithelial stem cells express SARS-CoV-2 entry factors: implications for COVID-19 JF - bioRxiv DO - 10.1101/2020.05.23.107334 SP - 2020.05.23.107334 AU - Anna A. Valyaeva AU - Anastasia A. Zharikova AU - Artem S. Kasianov AU - Yegor S. Vassetzky AU - Eugene V. Sheval Y1 - 2020/01/01 UR - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2020/09/21/2020.05.23.107334.abstract N2 - SARS-CoV-2 can infiltrate the lower respiratory tract, resulting in severe respiratory failure and a high death rate. Normally, the airway and alveolar epithelium can be rapidly reconstituted by multipotent stem cells after episodes of infection. Here, we analyzed published RNA-seq datasets and demonstrated that cells of four different lung epithelial stem cell types express SARS-CoV-2 entry factors, including Ace2. Thus, stem cells can be potentially infected by SARS-CoV-2, which may lead to defects in regeneration capacity partially accounting for the severity of SARS-CoV-2 infection and its consequences.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest. ER -