[Source:  Medical X-Press]

One of the biggest mysteries of the new coronavirus is its relative harmlessness in most children who get infected.

At least part of the explanation may be in the cells lining their noses, according to a new study by researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City.

The researchers started with archived samples of cells from the nasal lining, or epithelium, of people ages 4 to 60. Then they measured the activity of a gene that directs production of ACE2, a protein that helps coronavirus enter the body. It turned out that ACE2 gene “expression”—the DNA instructions that are converted into a functional molecule—was lower in young children, and that expression increased with age.

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