Human Nasal Epithelial Cells Sustain Persistent SARS-CoV-2 Infection In Vitro, despite Eliciting a Prolonged Antiviral Response.

ABSTRACT: The dynamics of SARS-CoV-2 infection in COVID-19 patients are highly variable, with a subset of patients demonstrating prolonged virus shedding, which poses a significant challenge for disease management and transmission control. In this study, the long-term dynamics of SARS-CoV-2 infection were investigated using a human well-differentiated nasal epithelial cell (NEC) model of infection. NECs were observed to release SARS-CoV-2 virus onto the apical surface for up to 28 days postinfection (dpi), further corroborated by viral antigen staining. Single-cell transcriptome sequencing (sc-seq) was utilized to explore the host response from infected NECs after short-term (3-dpi) and long-term (28-dpi) infection. We identified a unique population of cells harboring high viral loads present at bot

SUBMITTER: Gamage AM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8764519 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature