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- Title
SARS-CoV-2 infection drives an inflammatory response in human adipose tissue through infection of adipocytes and macrophages.
- Authors
Martínez-Colón, Giovanny J.; Ratnasiri, Kalani; Chen, Heping; Jiang, Sizun; Zanley, Elizabeth; Rustagi, Arjun; Verma, Renu; Chen, Han; Andrews, Jason R.; Mertz, Kirsten D.; Tzankov, Alexandar; Azagury, Dan; Boyd, Jack; Nolan, Garry P.; Schürch, Christian M.; Matter, Matthias S.; Blish, Catherine A.; McLaughlin, Tracey L.
- Abstract
Obesity, characterized by chronic low-grade inflammation of the adipose tissue, is associated with adverse coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outcomes, yet the underlying mechanism is unknown. To explore whether severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection of adipose tissue contributes to pathogenesis, we evaluated COVID-19 autopsy cases and deeply profiled the response of adipose tissue to SARS-CoV-2 infection in vitro. In COVID-19 autopsy cases, we identified SARS-CoV-2 RNA in adipocytes with an associated inflammatory infiltrate. We identified two distinct cellular targets of infection: adipocytes and a subset of inflammatory adipose tissue–resident macrophages. Mature adipocytes were permissive to SARS-CoV-2 infection; although macrophages were abortively infected, SARS-CoV-2 initiated inflammatory responses within both the infected macrophages and bystander preadipocytes. These data suggest that SARS-CoV-2 infection of adipose tissue could contribute to COVID-19 severity through replication of virus within adipocytes and through induction of local and systemic inflammation driven by infection of adipose tissue–resident macrophages. Infecting adipocytes: Obesity is a known factor associated with COVID-19 severity. However, the precise mechanism by which obesity promotes disease severity is unknown. Here, Martínez-Colón et al. found that SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, can productively infect mature adipocytes and abortively infect adipose tissue–resident macrophages. Infection of both cell types drove inflammatory responses, and the combination of viral replication and inflammation may help explain why obesity is associated with more severe COVID-19.
- Subjects
ADIPOSE tissues; SARS-CoV-2; COVID-19; FAT cells; INFLAMMATION; MACROPHAGES
- Publication
Science Translational Medicine, 2022, Vol 14, Issue 674, p1
- ISSN
1946-6234
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1126/scitranslmed.abm9151