Parallel immunoprecipitation studies of SARS-CoV-2 or SARS-CoV-infected human respiratory epithelial cells (A549) reveal a strong and exclusive interaction of the open reading frame 8 (ORF8) protein of SARS-CoV-2 with TGF-β1, TGF-β2, TGFBR2, LTBP1 (and thus latent TGF-β1) that was not seen with SARS-CoV infection. This evidence concerns the gene TGFB1 and severe acute respiratory syndrome.