Fig. 1: The spike of SARS-CoV-2 binds to human hepatocytes and hepatocytes derived from humanized ACE2 (hACE2) mice.

a Western blot showing the expression of ACE2, TMPRSS2, and NRP1 proteins on Vero E6 cells (left) or THLE-2 human hepatocytes (right). b A representative flow cytometry histogram showing the binding of the RBD to Vero E6 cells (left) or THLE-2 human hepatocytes (right). c Binding of the RBD to Vero E6 cells or THLE-2 cells (n = 3, unpaired t-test), measured by flow cytometry. d Western blot showing the expression of ACE2, NRP1, and TMPRSS2 on different fractions of the immunoprecipitation assay (input, control, immunoprecipitated and flowthrough) with S1 (left) or RBD (right) on THLE-2 human hepatocytes. e A representative histogram representing the infection rate of THLE-2 cells measured by flow cytometry (ZsGreen expression) 48 h after addition of the pseudotyped viral particles expressing the full-length spike of SARS-CoV-2. f Western blot showing the expression of ACE2, NRP1, and β-actin on hACE2 (left) or WT (right) primary mouse hepatocytes. g Western blot showing the expression of ACE2 and NRP1 on the different fractions after the immunoprecipitation assay (input, control, immunoprecipitated and flowthrough) with S1 (left) or RBD (right) on hACE2 primary mouse hepatocytes. h Infection rate of hACE2 or WT primary mouse hepatocytes measured by flow cytometry (n = 5, one-way ANOVA test). i Infection rate of upcyte second-generation human hepatocytes measured by flow cytometry (n = 3, one-way ANOVA test). Error bars represent SEM and asterisks represent p values (****<0.01, ***<0.001, and ****<0.0001). FT flowthrough in the immunoprecipitation assay, hACE2 humanized angiotensin-converting enzyme 2, IP immunoprecipitated fraction, MW molecular weight marker, SAV-PE Streptavidin-phycoerythrin, WT wildtype.