Nasal ciliated cells are primary targets for SARS-CoV-2 replication in the early stage of COVID-19.
J Clin Invest
; 131(13)2021 07 01.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1304352
ABSTRACT
The upper respiratory tract is compromised in the early period of COVID-19, but SARS-CoV-2 tropism at the cellular level is not fully defined. Unlike recent single-cell RNA-Seq analyses indicating uniformly low mRNA expression of SARS-CoV-2 entry-related host molecules in all nasal epithelial cells, we show that the protein levels are relatively high and that their localizations are restricted to the apical side of multiciliated epithelial cells. In addition, we provide evidence in patients with COVID-19 that SARS-CoV-2 is massively detected and replicated within the multiciliated cells. We observed these findings during the early stage of COVID-19, when infected ciliated cells were rapidly replaced by differentiating precursor cells. Moreover, our analyses revealed that SARS-CoV-2 cellular tropism was restricted to the nasal ciliated versus oral squamous epithelium. These results imply that targeting ciliated cells of the nasal epithelium during the early stage of COVID-19 could be an ideal strategy to prevent SARS-CoV-2 propagation.
Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Host Microbial Interactions
/
SARS-CoV-2
/
COVID-19
/
Nasal Mucosa
Language:
English
Year:
2021
Document Type:
Article
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