Air-liquid interphase culture confers SARS-CoV-2 susceptibility to A549 alveolar epithelial cells.
Biochem Biophys Res Commun
; 577: 146-151, 2021 11 05.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1401239
ABSTRACT
The human lung cell A549 is susceptible to infection with a number of respiratory viruses. However, A549 cells are resistant to Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome-Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection in conventional submerged culture, and this would appear to be due to low expression levels of the SARS-CoV-2 entry receptor angiotensin-converting enzyme-2 (ACE2). Here, we examined SARS-CoV-2 susceptibility to A549 cells after adaptation to air-liquid interface (ALI) culture. A549 cells in ALI culture yielded a layer of mucus on their apical surface, exhibited decreased expression levels of the proliferation marker KI-67 and intriguingly became susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 infection. We found that A549 cells increased the endogenous expression levels of ACE2 and TMPRSS2 following adaptation to ALI culture conditions. Camostat, a TMPRSS2 inhibitor, reduced SARS-CoV-2 infection in ALI-cultured A549 cells. These findings indicate that ALI culture switches the phenotype of A549 cells from resistance to susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2 infection through upregulation of ACE2 and TMPRSS2.
Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Cell Culture Techniques
/
Alveolar Epithelial Cells
/
SARS-CoV-2
/
COVID-19
Limits:
Humans
Language:
English
Journal:
Biochem Biophys Res Commun
Year:
2021
Document Type:
Article
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