A novel coronavirus from Wuhan in central China, named 2019-nCoV, has recently caused an epidemic of pneumonia in humans and posed a huge threat to global public health.1 , 2 To the date 06/02/2020, 2019-nCoV has led to more than 31,000 confirmed cases and 637 deaths in China according to National Health Commission of the People's Republic of China (http://en.nhc.gov.cn/index.html). Cases have also been documented in a growing number of other international locations, including the United States (https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html). As a consequence, it is urgent to develop effective measures to control this novel coronavirus on the basis of its pathogenesis.