NRP1 and furin as putative mediators of SARS-CoV-2 entry into human brain cells

COVID-19 has prominent neurological manifestations including psychiatric symptoms, indicating significant synaptic pathology. Surprisingly, existing evidence suggests negligible expression of the key SARS-CoV-2 host cell entry mediators ACE2 and TMPRSS2 in human brain, which complicates understanding of the pathomechanisms of the neuropsychiatric manifestations in COVID-19. Recent studies suggested that an alternative host-cell entry receptor, NRP1, can mediate entry of furin cleaved SARS-CoV-2 spike proteins into the host cells. However, the role of NRP1 and furin in mediating SARS-CoV-2 entry in human brain cells has been least explored and remains a lacuna in the literature. We performed an in silico analysis of the transcriptomic and proteomic expressions of SARS-CoV-2 host-cell entry receptors and associated tissue proteases in human brain tissue, using the publically available databases. Based on the expression analysis, SARS-CoV-2 entry in human brain cells is likely to be mediated through NRP1 and furin. Graphical Abstract O_FIG O_LINKSMALLFIG WIDTH=198 HEIGHT=200 SRC="FIGDIR/small/476893v1_ufig1.gif" ALT="Figure 1"> View larger version (38K): org.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@1c818baorg.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@1cf7c0corg.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@d92e19org.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@61866a_HPS_FORMAT_FIGEXP M_FIG C_FIG