The major challenge of the COVID-19 health crisis is to identify the factors of susceptibility to SARS-Cov2 in order to adapt the recommendations to the populations and to reduce the risk of getting COVID-19 to the most vulnerable people especially those having chronic respiratory diseases including cystic fibrosis (CF). Airway epithelial cells (AEC) are playing a critical role in the immune response and in COVID-19 severity. SARS-CoV-2 infects the airways through ACE2 receptor and the host protease TMPRSS2 was shown to play a major role in SARS-CoV-2 infectivity. Here, we show that the main component of P. aeruginosa flagella, ie. flagellin is able to increase TMPRSS2 expression in AEC, and even more in those deficient for CFTR. Importantly, this increased TMPRSS2 expression is associated with an increase in the level of SARS-CoV-2 infection. Considering the urgency of the health situation, this result is of major significance for patients with CF which are frequently infected and colonized by P. aeruginosa during the course of the disease.

中文翻译：

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铜绿假单胞菌的鞭毛蛋白通过增加TMPRSS2表达来调节CF气道上皮细胞中SARS-CoV-2的感染性

COVID-19健康危机的主要挑战是确定对SARS-Cov2的易感性因素，以使建议适应人群，并降低将COVID-19应用于最脆弱的人群，尤其是那些患有慢性呼吸道疾病的人群的风险。囊性纤维化（CF）等疾病。气道上皮细胞（AEC）在免疫反应和COVID-19严重性中起着关键作用。SARS-CoV-2通过ACE2受体感染呼吸道，宿主蛋白酶TMPRSS2在SARS-CoV-2感染性中起主要作用。在这里，我们显示铜绿假单胞菌的主要成分鞭毛，即 鞭毛蛋白能够增加AEC中TMPRSS2的表达，甚至在CFTR不足的那些中甚至更多。重要的是，这种增加的TMPRSS2表达与SARS-CoV-2感染水平的增加有关。考虑到健康状况的紧急性，该结果对于在病程中经常被铜绿假单胞菌感染和定殖的CF患者具有重要意义。