Viral uptake and pathophysiology of the lung endothelial cells in age-associated severe SARS-CoV-2 infection models.

ABSTRACT: Thrombosis is the major cause of death in severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection, and the pathology of vascular endothelial cells (ECs) has received much attention. Although there is evidence of the infection of ECs in human autopsy tissues, their detailed pathophysiology remains unclear due to the lack of animal model to study it. We used a mouse-adapted SARS-CoV-2 virus strain in young and mid-aged mice. Only mid-aged mice developed fatal pneumonia with thrombosis. Pulmonary ECs were isolated from these infected mice and RNA-Seq was performed. The pulmonary EC transcriptome revealed that significantly higher levels of viral genes were detected in ECs from mid-aged mice with upregulation of viral response genes such as DDX58 and IRF7. In addition, the throm

SUBMITTER: Tsumita T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10861199 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature