Researchers at MIT; the Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT, and Harvard; and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard; along with colleagues from around the world have identified specific types of cells that appear to be targets of the coronavirus that is causing the Covid-19 pandemic.
Using existing data on the RNA found in different types of cells, the researchers were able to search for cells that express the two proteins that help the SARS-CoV-2 virus enter human cells. They found subsets of cells in the lung, the nasal passages, and the intestine that express RNA for both of these proteins much more than other cells.
The researchers hope that their findings will help guide scientists who are working on developing new drug treatments or testing existing drugs that could be repurposed for treating Covid-19.
"As soon as we realized that the role of these proteins had been biochemically confirmed, we started looking to see where those genes were in our existing datasets," Ordovas-Montanes says. "We were really in a good position to start to investigate which are the cells that this virus might actually target."
Submission Process
Please visit Instruction for authors page to know more about article formatting and guidelines: https://www.hilarispublisher.com/tissue-science-engineering/instructionsforauthors.html
Journal of Tissue Science and Engineering received 807 citations as per Google Scholar report
Spanish 
Chinese 
Russian 
German 
French 
Japanese 
Portuguese 
Hindi 