SARS-CoV-2 infection of human ACE2-transgenic mice causes severe lung inflammation and impaired function

Laboratory strain mice are not susceptible for SARS-CoV-2 infection, whereas transgenic expression of human ACE2 (hACE2) converts them to support viral infection. Transient hACE2 expression in mice using virus vector such as adenovirus and adeno-asociated virus has been established. Additionally, hACE2 transgenic mouse models have been established, driven by mouse ACE2 promoter or lung ciliated epithelial cell-specific HFH4/FOXJ1 promoter. Among them, only a model that expresses hACE2 driven by HFH4/FOXJ1 promoter was successful for the establishment of severe viral disease. In this report, the authors showed that hACE2 transgenic mouse whose gene expression was driven by the epithelial cell cytokeratin-18 promoter was also successful to support SARS-CoV-2 infection resulting in the severe disease.