TY - JOUR
T1 - Sputum ACE2, TMPRSS2 and FURIN gene expression in severe neutrophilic asthma
AU - Kermani, Nazanin Zounemat
AU - Song, Woo Jung
AU - Badi, Yusef
AU - Versi, Ali
AU - GUO, Yi-Ke
AU - Sun, Kai
AU - Bhavsar, Pank
AU - Howarth, Peter
AU - Dahlen, Sven Erik
AU - Sterk, Peter J.
AU - Djukanovic, Ratko
AU - Adcock, Ian M.
AU - Chung, Kian Fan
AU - Hoda, Uruj
AU - Rossios, Christos
AU - Bel, Elisabeth
AU - Rao, Navin
AU - Myles, David
AU - Compton, Chris
AU - Van Geest, Marleen
AU - Roberts, Graham
AU - Lefaudeux, Diane
AU - De Meulder, Bertrand
AU - Bansal, Aruna T.
AU - Knowles, Richard
AU - Erzen, Damijn
AU - Wagers, Scott
AU - Krug, Norbert
AU - Higenbottam, Tim
AU - Matthews, John
AU - Erpenbeek, Veit
AU - Carayannopoulos, Leon
AU - Roberts, Amanda
AU - Supple, David
AU - deBoer, Pim
AU - Caruso, Massimo
AU - Chanez, Pascal
AU - Horváth, Ildikó
AU - Krug, Nobert
AU - Musial, Jacek
AU - Sandström, Thomas
AU - U-BIOPRED Consortium
N1 - Funding Information:
Dr Djukanovic reports receiving fees for lectures at symposia organised by Novartis, AstraZeneca and TEVA, consultation for TEVA and Novartis as member of advisory boards, and participation in a scientific discussion about asthma organised by GlaxoSmithKline. He is a co-founder and current consultant, and has shares in Synairgen, a University of Southampton spin out company. Dr. Sterk has nothing to disclose. Dr. Sterk reports grants from public–private funding by the Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI) covered by the European Union (EU) and the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA), during the conduct of the study. Dr Chung has received honoraria for participating in Advisory Board meetings of GSK, AZ, Roche, Novartis, Merck, BI, TEVA and Shionogi regarding treatments for asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and chronic cough and has also been renumerated for speaking engagements. Dr. Dahlén reports personal fees from AZ, Cayman Chemical, GSK, Novartis, Sanofi, Regeneron, TEVA, outside the submitted work. Mr Versi, Dr Kermani, Dr Song, Mr Badi, Dr Guo, Dr Sun, Dr Bhavsar, Dr Howarth and Dr Adcock have nothing to disclose.
Funding Information:
U-BIOPRED was supported by an Innovative Medicines Initiative Joint Undertaking (No.115010), resources from the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) and EFPIA companies’ in-kind contribution ( www.imi.europa.eu ). We thank the U-BIOPRED Project team for their contribution.
Funding Information:
We acknowledge the important contribution of Dr Alan Lunt who sadly passed away on 1st June 2020 and we dedicate this work in his memory. U-BIOPRED Consortium members: Uruj Hoda and Christos Rossios, Airways Disease, National Heart & Lung Institute, Imperial College London, UK & Biomedical Research Unit, Biomedical Research Unit, Royal Brompton & Harefield NHS Trust, London, UK; Elisabeth Bel, Faculty of Medicine, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands; Navin Rao, Janssen Research and Development, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, United Kingdom; David Myles, Respiratory Therapy Area Unit, GlaxoSmithKline, Stockley Park, UK; Chris Compton, Discovery Medicine, GlaxoSmithKline, Stockley Park, UK; Marleen Van Geest, AstraZeneca R&D Molndal, Sweden; Peter Howarth & Graham Roberts, Faculty of Medicine, Southampton University, Southampton, UK and NIHR Southampton Respiratory Biomedical Research Unit, University Hospital Southampton, Southampton, UK; Diane Lefaudeux, European Institute for Systems Biology and Medicine, CNRS-ENS-UCBL, Universit? de Lyon, France; Bertrand De Meulder, European Institute for Systems Biology and Medicine, CNRS-ENS-UCBL, Universit? de Lyon, France; Aruna T Bansal, Acclarogen Ltd, St John's Innovation Centre, Cambridge, CB4 0WS, UK; Richard Knowles, Knowles Consulting, Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst, Gunnels Wood Road, Stevenage SG1 2FX, UK; Damijn Erzen, Boehringer Ingelheim Pharma, Germany; Scott Wagers, BioSci Consulting, BioSci Consulting, Maasmechelen, Belgium; Norbert Krug, Immunology, Allergology and Clinical Inhalation, Fraunhofer Institute for Toxicology and Experimental Medicine, Hannover, Germany; Tim Higenbottam, Corporate Clinical Development, Chiesi Pharmaceutics Ltd, Cheadle, UK. Current address: Allergy Therapeutics, West Sussex, UK; John Matthews, Genentech Inc, 1 DNA Drive, South San Francisco, CA 94080-4990, USA; Veit Erpenbeek, Translational Medicine?Respiratory Profiling, Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research, Basel, Switzerland; Leon Carayannopoulos, Merck Inc. Kenilworth, New Jersey, USA; Amanda Roberts, UBIOPRED Patient Input Platform, ELF, Sheffield, UK; David Supple, UBIOPRED Patient Input Platform, ELF, Sheffield, UK; Pim deBoer, UBIOPRED Patient Input Platform, ELF, Sheffield, UK; Massimo Caruso, Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine Hospital University, University of Catania, Italy; Pascal Chanez, D?partement des Maladies Respiratoires, Laboratoire d'immunologie, Aix Marseille Universit? Marseille, France; Sven-Erik Dahlen, The Centre for Allergy Research, The Institute of Environmental Medicine, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden; Ildik? Horv?th, Department of Pulmonology, Semmelweis University, Budapest, Hungary; Nobert Krug, Fraunhofer Institute for Toxicology and Experimental Medicine Hannover, Germany; Jacek Musial, Dept. of Medicine, Jagiellonian University Medical College, Krakow, Poland; Thomas Sandstr?m, Dept of Medicine, Respiratory and Allergy unit, University Hospital, SE 901 85 Ume?, Sweden
PY - 2021/1/7
Y1 - 2021/1/7
N2 - Background: Patients with severe asthma may have a greater risk of dying from COVID-19 disease. Angiotensin converting enzyme-2 (ACE2) and the enzyme proteases, transmembrane protease serine 2 (TMPRSS2) and FURIN, are needed for viral attachment and invasion into host cells. Methods: We examined microarray mRNA expression of ACE2, TMPRSS2 and FURIN in sputum, bronchial brushing and bronchial biopsies of the European U-BIOPRED cohort. Clinical parameters and molecular phenotypes, including asthma severity, sputum inflammatory cells, lung functions, oral corticosteroid (OCS) use, and transcriptomic-associated clusters, were examined in relation to gene expression levels. Results: ACE2 levels were significantly increased in sputum of severe asthma compared to mild-moderate asthma. In multivariate analyses, sputum ACE2 levels were positively associated with OCS use and male gender. Sputum FURIN levels were significantly related to neutrophils (%) and the presence of severe asthma. In bronchial brushing samples, TMPRSS2 levels were positively associated with male gender and body mass index, whereas FURIN levels with male gender and blood neutrophils. In bronchial biopsies, TMPRSS2 levels were positively related to blood neutrophils. The neutrophilic molecular phenotype characterised by high inflammasome activation expressed significantly higher FURIN levels in sputum than the eosinophilic Type 2-high or the pauci-granulocytic oxidative phosphorylation phenotypes. Conclusion: Levels of ACE2 and FURIN may differ by clinical or molecular phenotypes of asthma. Sputum FURIN expression levels were strongly associated with neutrophilic inflammation and with inflammasome activation. This might indicate the potential for a greater morbidity and mortality outcome from SARS-CoV-2 infection in neutrophilic severe asthma.
AB - Background: Patients with severe asthma may have a greater risk of dying from COVID-19 disease. Angiotensin converting enzyme-2 (ACE2) and the enzyme proteases, transmembrane protease serine 2 (TMPRSS2) and FURIN, are needed for viral attachment and invasion into host cells. Methods: We examined microarray mRNA expression of ACE2, TMPRSS2 and FURIN in sputum, bronchial brushing and bronchial biopsies of the European U-BIOPRED cohort. Clinical parameters and molecular phenotypes, including asthma severity, sputum inflammatory cells, lung functions, oral corticosteroid (OCS) use, and transcriptomic-associated clusters, were examined in relation to gene expression levels. Results: ACE2 levels were significantly increased in sputum of severe asthma compared to mild-moderate asthma. In multivariate analyses, sputum ACE2 levels were positively associated with OCS use and male gender. Sputum FURIN levels were significantly related to neutrophils (%) and the presence of severe asthma. In bronchial brushing samples, TMPRSS2 levels were positively associated with male gender and body mass index, whereas FURIN levels with male gender and blood neutrophils. In bronchial biopsies, TMPRSS2 levels were positively related to blood neutrophils. The neutrophilic molecular phenotype characterised by high inflammasome activation expressed significantly higher FURIN levels in sputum than the eosinophilic Type 2-high or the pauci-granulocytic oxidative phosphorylation phenotypes. Conclusion: Levels of ACE2 and FURIN may differ by clinical or molecular phenotypes of asthma. Sputum FURIN expression levels were strongly associated with neutrophilic inflammation and with inflammasome activation. This might indicate the potential for a greater morbidity and mortality outcome from SARS-CoV-2 infection in neutrophilic severe asthma.
KW - ACE2
KW - FURIN
KW - Neutrophil
KW - Severe asthma
KW - TMPRSS2
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85099019328&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1186/s12931-020-01605-8
DO - 10.1186/s12931-020-01605-8
M3 - Journal article
C2 - 33413387
AN - SCOPUS:85099019328
SN - 1465-9921
VL - 22
JO - Respiratory Research
JF - Respiratory Research
IS - 1
M1 - 10
ER -
