Objective: To preliminarily analyze the expression of angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) and to investigate its potential regulatory mechanism in chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps (CRSwNP). Methods: Patients underwent nasal endoscopic surgery in the Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University from February 2020 to May 2021 were selected, including 17 males and 6 females, aging from 23 to 66 years old. Expression of ACE2 was evaluated via immunohistochemical staining in controls with non-chronic rhinosinusitis, non-eosinophilic CRSwNP (non-ECRSwNP), and eosinophilic CRSwNP (ECRSwNP) tissue, respectively. Correlations between ACE2 and the indicated Th1/Th2-related cytokines (IFN-γ, IL-4, IL-5, IL-13, IL-25, IL-33, TSLP and periostin) were analyzed based on GSE72713 dataset. Protein-protein interaction (PPI) network was constructed via string database, immune infiltration of GSE72713 dataset was evaluated using cibersort algorithm. ACE2 was comprehensively analyzed by microRNA regulatory network, gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) and pharmacological analysis. Statistical analysis was performed using GraphPad 7.0 and SPSS 20.0 software. Results: ACE2 was up-regulated in non-ECRSwNP compared with ECRSwNP. Microarray analysis showed that ACE2 was positively correlated with IFN-γ while inversely correlated with IL-5, IL-13 and periostin significantly. Analysis of immune infiltration suggested that ACE2 expression correlated positively with the number of M1 macrophage while negatively with M2 macrophage. GSEA demonstrated that interferon-related signaling pathways were up-regulated in non-ECRSwNP, and miRNA-200B/miRNA-200C/miRNA-429 pathways targeting ACE2 were enriched in ECRSwNP. Results of pharmacological analysis indicated that ampicillin was able to promote the expression of ACE2 whereas acetaminophen could down regulated the expression of ACE2. Conclusion: Expression pattern of ACE2 is varied in non-ECRSwNP and ECRSwNP, which may be related to the different infiltration of indicated cytokines and different regulatory pathways of miRNA.
目的： 初步分析血管紧张素转化酶2（angiotensin-converting enzyme 2，ACE2）在慢性鼻窦炎伴鼻息肉中的表达及潜在的调控机制。 方法： 纳入2020年2月至2021年5月期间，于中山大学附属第三医院行鼻内镜手术的患者23例，其中男性17例，女性6例，年龄23~66岁。通过免疫组织化学染色方法检测ACE2在非慢性鼻窦炎对照组、非嗜酸性慢性鼻窦炎伴鼻息肉（non-eosinophilic chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps，non-ECRSwNP）组和嗜酸性慢性鼻窦炎伴鼻息肉（eosinophilic chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps，ECRSwNP）组中的表达。利用GSE72713芯片分析ACE2与干扰素γ（IFN-γ）、白细胞介素（IL）-4、IL-5、IL-13、IL-25、IL-33、胸腺基质淋巴细胞生成素、骨膜蛋白等Th1/Th2细胞因子的相关性。通过string数据库构建ACE2互作蛋白网络，cibersort算法评估GSE72713芯片免疫细胞浸润情况，并通过微小核糖核酸（miRNA）调控网络、基因集富集分析（gene set enrichment analysis，GSEA）和药理学分析对ACE2进行综合分析。使用GraphPad 7.0及SPSS 20.0软件对实验结果进行统计学分析。 结果： ACE2在non-ECRSwNP组较ECRSwNP组高表达。芯片分析显示ACE2表达与IFN-γ呈正相关，与IL-5、IL-13和骨膜蛋白呈负相关。免疫分析显示ACE2与M1型巨噬细胞浸润呈正相关，与M2型巨噬细胞浸润呈负相关。GSEA结果显示，干扰素相关通路在non-ECRSwNP组显著上调，而靶向ACE2的miRNA-200B/miRNA-200C/miRNA-429通路在ECRSwNP组上调。药理学分析结果显示，氨苄青霉素可上调ACE2表达，对乙酰氨基酚可下调ACE2表达。 结论： ACE2在ECRSwNP和non-ECRSwNP中具有不同的表达模式，这可能与组织炎性因子浸润不同以及miRNA调控通路差异相关。.