TY - JOUR T1 - “ARDS and Cytokine Storm in SARS-CoV-2 Infected Caribbean Vervets” JF - bioRxiv DO - 10.1101/2020.06.18.157933 SP - 2020.06.18.157933 AU - Robert V. Blair AU - Monica Vaccari AU - Lara A. Doyle-Meyers AU - Chad J Roy AU - Kasi Russell-Lodrigue AU - Marissa Fahlberg AU - Chris J. Monjure AU - Brandon Beddingfield AU - Kenneth S. Plante AU - Jessica A. Plante AU - Scott C. Weaver AU - Xuebin Qin AU - Cecily C. Midkiff AU - Gabrielle Lehmicke AU - Nadia Golden AU - Breanna Threeton AU - Toni Penney AU - Carolina Allers AU - Mary B Barnes AU - Melissa Pattison AU - Prasun K Datta AU - Nicholas J Maness AU - Angela Birnbaum AU - Tracy Fischer AU - Rudolf P. Bohm AU - Jay Rappaport Y1 - 2020/01/01 UR - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2020/06/19/2020.06.18.157933.abstract N2 - SARS-CoV-2 induces a wide range of disease severity ranging from asymptomatic infection, to a life-threating illness, particularly in the elderly and persons with comorbid conditions. Up to now, SARS-CoV-2 has infected more than five million and led to more than 300,000 deaths worldwide. Among those persons with serious COVID-19 disease, acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is a common and often fatal presentation. SARS-CoV-2-induced ARDS is difficult to treat clinically, and new therapeutic strategies are needed. In order to evaluate such therapeutic strategies, animal models of SARS-CoV-2 infection that manifest severe disease are needed. Here we report fatal ARDS in two African green monkeys (AGMs) infected with SARS-CoV-2 that demonstrated pathological lesions and disease similar to severe COVID-19 in humans. Moreover, we report the observation of cytokine release (cytokine storm) in three of four infected AGMs. All four animals showed increased levels of IL-6 in plasma, a predictive marker and presumptive therapeutic target in humans infected with SARS-CoV-2 infection. Our results suggest the AGM is a useful model to study disease pathogenesis of SARS-CoV-2, and for the evaluation of therapeutic interventions designed to combat serious pulmonary disease associated with this infection.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest. ER -