Abstract
SARS-CoV-2 primarily infects the respiratory tract, but pulmonary and cardiac complications occur in severe COVID-19. To elucidate molecular mechanisms in the lung and heart, we conducted paired experiments in human stem cell-derived lung alveolar type II (AT2) epithelial cell and cardiac cultures infected with SARS-CoV-2. With CRISPR- Cas9 mediated knock-out of ACE2, we demonstrated that angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) was essential for SARS-CoV-2 infection of both cell types but further processing in lung cells required TMPRSS2 while cardiac cells required the endosomal pathway. Host responses were significantly different; transcriptome profiling and phosphoproteomics responses depended strongly on the cell type. We identified several antiviral compounds with distinct antiviral and toxicity profiles in lung AT2 and cardiac cells, highlighting the importance of using several relevant cell types for evaluation of antiviral drugs. Our data provide new insights into rational drug combinations for effective treatment of a virus that affects multiple organ systems.
One-sentence summary Rational treatment strategies for SARS-CoV-2 derived from human PSC models
Competing Interest Statement
The authors have declared no competing interest.
Footnotes
↵+ Co-senior
The WHO Collaborating Centre for Reference and Research on Influenza, The Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, Melbourne 3000, Victoria, Australia; The Department of Microbiology and Immunology, The Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, 3000, Victoria, Australia.
