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Nature Research, Scientific Reports, 1(11), 2021

DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-89379-x

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Angiotensin converting enzyme 2 is a novel target of the γ-secretase complex

Journal article published in 2021 by Alberto Bartolomé, Jiani Liang, Pengfei Wang, David D. Ho, Utpal B. Pajvani ORCID
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.

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Abstract

AbstractAngiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) is a key regulator of the renin-angiotensin system, but also the functional receptor of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Based on structural similarity with other γ-secretase (γS) targets, we hypothesized that ACE2 may be affected by γS proteolytic activity. We found that after ectodomain shedding, ACE2 is targeted for intramembrane proteolysis by γS, releasing a soluble ACE2 C-terminal fragment. Consistently, chemical or genetic inhibition of γS results in the accumulation of a membrane-bound fragment of ectodomain-deficient ACE2. Although chemical inhibition of γS does not alter SARS-CoV-2 cell entry, these data point to a novel pathway for cellular ACE2 trafficking.