SARS-CoV-2 induces barrier damage and inflammatory responses in the human iPSC-derived intestinal epithelium

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARSCoV-2), has rapidly spread and led to global health crises. COVID-19 causes well-known respiratory failure and gastrointestinal symptoms, such as diarrhea, nausea, and vomiting. Thus, human gastrointestinal cell models are urgently needed for COVID-19 research; however, it is difficult to obtain primary human intestinal cells. In this study, we examined whether human induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)derived small intestinal epithelial cells (iPSC-SIECs) could be used as a SARS-CoV-2 infection model. We observed that iPSC-SIECs, such as absorptive and Paneth cells, were infected with SARS-CoV-2, and remdesivir treatment decreased intracellular SARS-CoV-2 replication in iPSC-SIECs. SARS-CoV-2 infection decreased expression levels of tight junction markers, ZO-3 and CLDN1, and transepithelial electrical resistance (TEER), which evaluates the integrity of tight junction dynamics. In addition, SARS-CoV-2 infection increased expression levels of proinflammatory genes, which are elevated in patients with COVID-19. These findings suggest iPSC-SIECs as a useful in vitro model for elucidating COVID-19 pathology and drug development. (c) 2022 The Authors. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of Japanese Pharmacological Society. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/ licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

Automated summary

This study investigated the use of human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived small intestinal epithelial cells (iPSC-SIECs) as a model for SARS-CoV-2 infection. The results showed that iPSC-SIECs can be infected by SARS-CoV-2 and that treatment with remdesivir reduces viral replication. The study also found that SARS-CoV-2 infection affects tight junction markers and increases the expression of proinflammatory genes.