Human Pluripotent Stem Cell-Derived Neural Cells and Brain Organoids Reveal SARS-CoV-2 Neurotropism.
Fadi JacobSarshan R PatherWei-Kai HuangSamuel Zheng Hao WongHaowen ZhouFeng ZhangBeatrice CubittCatherine Z ChenMiao XuManisha PradhanDaniel Y ZhangWei ZhengAnne G BangHongjun SongJuan Carlos de A TorreGuo-Li MingPublished in: bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology (2020)
Neurological complications are common in patients with COVID-19. While SARS-CoV-2, the causal pathogen of COVID-19, has been detected in some patient brains, its ability to infect brain cells and impact their function are not well understood, and experimental models using human brain cells are urgently needed. Here we investigated the susceptibility of human induced pluripotent stem cell (hiPSC)-derived monolayer brain cells and region-specific brain organoids to SARS-CoV-2 infection. We found modest numbers of infected neurons and astrocytes, but greater infection of choroid plexus epithelial cells. We optimized a protocol to generate choroid plexus organoids from hiPSCs, which revealed productive SARS-CoV-2 infection that leads to increased cell death and transcriptional dysregulation indicative of an inflammatory response and cellular function deficits. Together, our results provide evidence for SARS-CoV-2 neurotropism and support use of hiPSC-derived brain organoids as a platform to investigate the cellular susceptibility, disease mechanisms, and treatment strategies for SARS-CoV-2 infection.
Keyphrases
- sars cov
- induced apoptosis
- cell cycle arrest
- respiratory syndrome coronavirus
- cell death
- resting state
- stem cells
- white matter
- inflammatory response
- induced pluripotent stem cells
- endothelial cells
- randomized controlled trial
- functional connectivity
- cerebral ischemia
- coronavirus disease
- traumatic brain injury
- signaling pathway
- endoplasmic reticulum stress
- oxidative stress
- risk factors
- cell proliferation
- cell therapy
- pi k akt
- blood brain barrier
- case report