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Review
. 2020 Jun:215:108427.
doi: 10.1016/j.clim.2020.108427. Epub 2020 Apr 20.

COVID-19 pathophysiology: A review

Koichi Yuki  1 , Miho Fujiogi  2 , Sophia Koutsogiannaki  3
Affiliations
Review

COVID-19 pathophysiology: A review

Koichi Yuki et al. Clin Immunol. 2020 Jun.

Abstract

In December 2019, a novel coronavirus, now named as SARS-CoV-2, caused a series of acute atypical respiratory diseases in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China. The disease caused by this virus was termed COVID-19. The virus is transmittable between humans and has caused pandemic worldwide. The number of death tolls continues to rise and a large number of countries have been forced to do social distancing and lockdown. Lack of targeted therapy continues to be a problem. Epidemiological studies showed that elder patients were more susceptible to severe diseases, while children tend to have milder symptoms. Here we reviewed the current knowledge about this disease and considered the potential explanation of the different symptomatology between children and adults.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Competing Interest None.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
ACE expression on mouse immune cells. ACE2 expression was examined in Immgen (http://rstats.immgen.org/Skyline/skyline.html). BM, bone marrow; Sp, Spleen; PC, peritoneal cavity; Th, thymus; LN, lymph node; SI, small intestine; Lu, lung; CNS, central nervous system; SLN, subcutaneous lymph node.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Age-dependent ACE2 expression profiles in the mouse lung. Using Lung Gene Expression Analysis Web Portal (https://research.cchmc.org/pbge/lunggens/mainportal.html), the expression of ACE2 was examined. This data was obtained from microarray experiments of three mice strains A/J mice, C57BL/6J mice and C3H/HeJ mice at different ages [72]. X axis showed age and mouse strain, and y axis showed ACE2 expression level. M.
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