The high rate of SARS-CoV-2 infection poses a serious threat to public health. Previous studies have suggested that SARS-CoV-2 can infect human ovary, the core organ of the female reproductive system. However, it remains unclear which type of ovarian cells are easily infected by SARS-CoV-2 and whether ovarian infectivity differs from puberty to menopause. In this study, public datasets containing bulk and single-cell RNA-Seq data derived from ovarian tissues were analyzed to demonstrate the mRNA expression and protein distribution of the two key entry receptors for SARS-CoV-2—angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) and type II transmembrane serine protease (TMPRSS2). Furthermore, an immunohistochemical study of ACE2 and TMPRSS2 in human ovaries of different ages was conducted. Differentially expressed gene (DEG) analysis of ovaries of different ages and with varying ovarian reserves was conducted to explore the potential functions of ACE2 and TMPRSS2 in the ovary. The analysis of the public datasets indicated that the co-expression of ACE2 and TMPRSS2 was observed mostly in oocytes and partially in granulosa cells. However, no marked difference was observed in ACE2 or TMPRSS2 expression between young and old ovaries and ovaries with low and high reserves. Correspondingly, ACE2 and TMPRSS2 were detected in the human ovarian cortex and medulla, especially in oocytes of different stages, with no observed variations in their expression level in ovaries of different ages, which was consistent with the results of bioinformatic analyses. Remarkably, DEG analysis showed that a series of viral infection-related pathways were more enriched in ACE2-positive ovarian cells than in ACE2-negative ovarian cells, suggesting that SARS-CoV-2 may potentially target specific ovarian cells and affect ovarian function. However, further fundamental and clinical research is still needed to monitor the process of SARS-CoV-2 entry into ovarian cells and the long-term effects of SARS-CoV-2 infection on the ovarian function in recovered females.

SARS-CoV-2 的高感染率对公众健康构成严重威胁。先前的研究表明，SARS-CoV-2 可以感染人类卵巢，这是女性生殖系统的核心器官。然而，尚不清楚哪种类型的卵巢细胞容易被 SARS-CoV-2 感染，以及卵巢感染性是否因青春期和绝经期而异。在这项研究中，分析了包含来自卵巢组织的大量和单细胞 RNA-Seq 数据的公共数据集，以证明 SARS-CoV-2 的两个关键进入受体——血管紧张素转换酶 2 (ACE2) 的 mRNA 表达和蛋白质分布) 和 II 型跨膜丝氨酸蛋白酶 (TMPRSS2)。此外，还对不同年龄的人卵巢中的 ACE2 和 TMPRSS2 进行了免疫组织化学研究。对不同年龄、不同卵巢储备的卵巢进行差异表达基因（DEG）分析，探讨ACE2和TMPRSS2在卵巢中的潜在功能。对公共数据集的分析表明，ACE2 和 TMPRSS2 的共表达主要在卵母细胞中观察到，部分在颗粒细胞中观察到。然而，没有观察到显着差异ACE2或TMPRSS2年轻和年老的卵巢以及低储量和高储量的卵巢之间的表达。相应地，在人卵巢皮质和髓质中检测到ACE2和TMPRSS2，尤其是在不同阶段的卵母细胞中，在不同年龄的卵巢中未观察到其表达水平的变化，这与生物信息学分析的结果一致。值得注意的是，DEG 分析表明，一系列病毒感染相关通路在 ACE2 阳性卵巢细胞中比在 ACE2 阴性卵巢细胞中更丰富，这表明 SARS-CoV-2 可能潜在地靶向特定卵巢细胞并影响卵巢功能。然而，仍需要进一步的基础和临床研究来监测 SARS-CoV-2 进入卵巢细胞的过程以及 SARS-CoV-2 感染对康复女性卵巢功能的长期影响。