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Updated: Jul 31, 2025

Visualization of SARS-CoV-2 using Immuno RNA-Fluorescence In Situ Hybridization
Published on: December 23, 2020
Emerging roles of SARS-CoV-2 Spike-ACE2 in immune evasion and pathogenesis
Cosima T Baldari1, Anna Onnis1, Emanuele Andreano2
1Department of Life Sciences, University of Siena, Siena, Italy.
Abstract:
The COVID-19 pandemic, caused by SARS-CoV-2, has caused an estimated 5 billion infections and 20 million deaths by respiratory failure. In addition to the respiratory disease, SARS-CoV-2 infection has been associated with many extrapulmonary complications not easily explainable by the respiratory infection. A recent study showed that the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, which mediates cell entry by binding to the angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) receptor, signals through ACE2 to change host cell behavior. In CD8+ T cells, spike-dependent ACE2-mediated signaling suppresses immunological synapse (IS) formation and impairs their killing ability, leading to immune escape of virus-infected cells. In this opinion article, we discuss the consequences of ACE2 signaling on the immune response and propose that it contributes to the extrapulmonary manifestations of COVID-19.
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