Detection of viral RNA fragments in human iPSC cardiomyocytes following treatment with extracellular vesicles from SARS-CoV-2 coding sequence overexpressing lung epithelial cells

Stem Cell Research & Therapy

Sang-Bing Ong¹  Nur Izzah Ismail¹  Won Hee Lee²  Youjeong Kwon³  Hiroe Miyamoto³  Shubhi Srivastava³  Jalees Rehman³  Sarath Babu Nukala³  Jordan Jousma³  Sang-Ging Ong³ 

[1] Centre for Cardiovascular Genomics and Medicine, Lui Che Woo Institute of Innovative Medicine, Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK);Department of Basic Medical Sciences, University of Arizona College of Medicine – Phoenix;Department of Pharmacology, The University of Illinois College of Medicine;

关键词: COVID-19;    Extracellular vesicles;    iPSCs;    Stem cells;    Cardiomyocytes;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s13287-020-02033-7

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Abstract Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is a global pandemic. The prevalence/severity of COVID-19 is higher among patients with cardiovascular risk factors. Despite the expression of angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2), a receptor for SARS-CoV-2 infection, in cardiomyocytes, there has been no conclusive evidence of direct viral infection although the presence of viral genome within COVID-19 patients’ hearts has been reported. Here, we overexpressed SARS-CoV-2 genes in A549 lung epithelial cells. We then isolated extracellular vesicles (EVs) and detected the presence of viral RNA within these EVs. We observed that human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (hiPSC-CMs) are receptive to these EVs, and viral genes were detectable in the cardiomyocytes. Accordingly, the uptake of viral RNA-harboring EVs led to an upregulation of inflammation-related genes in hiPSC-CMs. Thus, our findings indicate that SARS-CoV-2 RNA containing EVs represents an indirect route of viral RNA entry into cardiomyocytes.

【 授权许可】

Unknown