Cerebrospinal fluid protein markers indicate neuro-damage in SARS-CoV-2-infected non-human primates

ABSTRACT: Neurologic manifestations are among the most frequently reported complications of COVID-19. However, given the paucity of tissue samples and highly infectious nature of the etiologic agent of COVID-19, we have limited information to understand the neuropathogenesis of COVID-19. Therefore to better understand the impact of COVID-19 in brain, we employed mass-spectrometry-based proteomics using data-independent acquisition mode (DIA) to investigate cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) proteins collected from two different non-human primates, Rhesus Macaque and African Green Monkeys for the neurologic effects of the infection. These monkeys exhibited minimal to mild pulmonary pathology but moderate to severe CNS pathology. Our results indicate that CSF proteome changes after infection resolution correspond with bronchial virus abundance during early infection and revealed substantial differences between the infected NHPs and their age-matched uninfected controls, suggesting these differences could reflect altered secretion of CNS factors in response to SARS-CoV-2-induced neuropathology. We also observed the infected animals to exhibit much scattered data distributions as compared to the tightly clustered corresponding controls which suggest the heterogeneity of the CSF proteome change and the host response to the viral infection. In addition, dysregulated CSF proteins were preferentially enriched in functional pathways associated with progressive neurodegenerative disorders, hemostasis and innate immune responses that could influence neuroinflammatory responses following COVID-19. Mapping dysregulated proteins to the Human Brain Protein Atlas found that these proteins tended to be enriched in brain regions that exhibit more frequent injury following COVID-19. It therefore appears reasonable to speculate that such CSF protein changes could serve as signatures for neurologic injury, identify important regulatory pathways in this process, and potentially reveal therapeutic targets to prevent or attenuate the development of neurologic injuries following COVID-19.

INSTRUMENT(S): Q Exactive HF

ORGANISM(S): Cercopithecus Aethiops (green Monkey) (grivet) Macaca Mulatta (rhesus Macaque)

TISSUE(S): Cerebrospinal Fluid

SUBMITTER: Sudipa Maity  

LAB HEAD: jia Fan

PROVIDER: PXD035247 | Pride | 2023-03-11

REPOSITORIES: Pride