Long-Term Modeling of SARS-CoV-2 Infection of In Vitro Cultured Polarized Human Airway Epithelium
Year: 2020
Type: article
Abstract: Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) replicates throughout human airways. The polarized human airway epithelium (HAE) cultured at an airway-liquid interface (HAE-ALI) is an in vitro model mimicking the in vivo human mucociliary airway epithelium and supports the replication of SARS-CoV-2. However, previous studies only characterized short-period SARS-CoV-2 infection in HAE. In this study, continuously monitoring the SARS-CoV-2 infection in HAE-ALI cultures for a long period of up to 51 days revealed that SARS-CoV-2 infection was long lasting with recurrent replication peaks appearing between an interval of approximately 7-10 days, which was consistent in all the tested HAE-ALI cultures derived from 4 lung bronchi of independent donors. We also identified that SARS-CoV-2 does not infect HAE from the basolateral side, and the dominant SARS-CoV-2 permissive epithelial cells are ciliated cells and goblet cells, whereas virus replication in basal cells and club cells was not detectable. Notably, virus infection immediately damaged the HAE, which is demonstrated by dispersed Zonula occludens-1 (ZO-1) expression without clear tight junctions and partial loss of cilia. Importantly, we identified that SARS-CoV-2 productive infection of HAE requires a high viral load of 2.5 × 10 5 virions per cm 2 of epithelium. Thus, our studies highlight the importance of a high viral load and that epithelial renewal initiates and maintains a recurrent infection of HAE with SARS-CoV-2.
Source: mBio
Authors: Siyuan Hao, Kang Ning, Cagla Aksu Kuz, Kai Vorhies, Ziying Yan, Jianming Qiu
Institutions: University of Kansas Medical Center, University of Iowa
Language: English
Subfield: Infectious Diseases
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $3,900
Awards: Human bocavirus 1 (HBoV1) capsid entry and intracellular trafficking of polarized human airway epithelium, G2505242730, G2839902808, G336615015, G3921466992, G5971186999, G7280879208, G816468363, Viral and Host Determinants of Parvovirus Replication, Precision Medicine Center for Cystic Fibrosis
OpenAlex ID: W3096665612