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Acta medica Croatica : Časopis Akademije medicinskih znanosti Hrvatske, Vol. 74 No. 2, 2020.

Review article

AGE AND SARS-COV2 INFECTION

SLAVICA DODIG orcid id orcid.org/0000-0002-3419-5171 ; University of Zagreb, Faculty of Pharmacy and Biochemistry, Department of Medical Biochemistry and Hematology, Zagreb, Croatia
IVANA ČEPELAK ; University of Zagreb, Faculty of Pharmacy and Biochemistry, Department of Medical Biochemistry and Hematology, Zagreb, Croatia
IVAN PAVIĆ orcid id orcid.org/0000-0003-2670-2003 ; Zagreb Children’s Hospital, Department of Pulmonology, Allergology and Immunology, Zagreb; School of Medicine University of Split, Split, Croatia

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Abstract

SARS-CoV-2 (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Corona Virus 2), a novel virus of the beta coronavirus group RNA viruses, is responsible for a zoonotic disease named COVID-19 (coronavirus disease from 2019). The main receptor through which the virus enters the host cell is angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2), known as a multifunctional protein. ACE2 expression has been found in oral and nasal mucosa, lungs, adipose tissue, heart, brain, kidneys, vascular tissue, stomach, liver. Upon entry of the virus into the target host cells, two processes are initiated, the host’s immune response and the infl ammatory cascade. As immune (innate and adaptive) and infl ammatory responses change throughout life both qualitatively and quantitatively, both processes are responsible for varying degrees of disease severity depending on the patient’s age. Short-time experience with SARS-CoV-2 infection has shown that: (i) children and adolescents develop the disease with mild symptoms, mainly on upper respiratory airways; (ii) the disease has a more severe course in adult patients with associated chronic diseases such as cardiovascular and renal diseases, chronic respiratory diseases, diabetes, etc.; and (iii) the most severe, often fatal disease occurs in the elderly, due to more pronounced processes of immunosenescence and infl amm-aging.

Keywords

age; angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2); coronaviruses; COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2

Hrčak ID:

244545

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/244545

Publication date:

6.10.2020.

Article data in other languages: croatian

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