Pulmonary infection by SARS-CoV-2 induces senescence accompanied by an inflammatory phenotype in severe COVID-19: possible implications for viral mutagenesis.
Konstantinos EvangelouDimitris VeroutisKoralia PaschalakiPeriklis G FoukasNefeli LagopatiMarios DimitriouAngelos PapaspyropoulosBindu KondaOrsalia HazapisAikaterini PolyzouSophia HavakiAthanassios KotsinasChristos KittasAthanasios G TzioufasLaurence de LevalDemetris VassilakosSotirios TsiodrasBarry R StrippArgyris PapantonisGiovanni BlandinoIoannis KarakasiliotisPeter J BarnesVassilis G GorgoulisPublished in: The European respiratory journal (2022)
, SARS-CoV-2 infection induces senescence and inflammation. Importantly, infected senescent cells may act as a source of SARS-CoV-2 mutagenesis mediated by APOBEC enzymes. Therefore, SARS-CoV-2-induced senescence may be an important molecular mechanism of severe COVID-19, disease persistence and mutagenesis.