PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Marjorie C Pontelli
AU  - Italo A Castro
AU  - Ronaldo B Martins
AU  - Flávio P Veras
AU  - Leonardo LaSerra
AU  - Daniele C Nascimento
AU  - Ricardo S Cardoso
AU  - Roberta Rosales
AU  - Diego B Caetité
AU  - Mikhael H F de Lima
AU  - Thais M Lima
AU  - Juliano P Souza
AU  - Juliana T Kawahisa
AU  - Marcela C Giannini
AU  - Letícia P Bonjorno
AU  - Maria I F Lopes
AU  - Sabrina S Batah
AU  - Li Siyuan
AU  - Rodrigo L Assad
AU  - Sergio C L Almeida
AU  - Fabiola R Oliveira
AU  - Maíra N Benatti
AU  - Lorena L F Pontes
AU  - Rodrigo C Santana
AU  - Fernando C Vilar
AU  - Maria A Martins
AU  - Thiago M Cunha
AU  - Rodrigo T Calado
AU  - José C Alves-Filho
AU  - Dario S Zamboni
AU  - Alexandre Fabro
AU  - Paulo Louzada-Junior
AU  - Rene D R Oliveira
AU  - Fernando Q Cunha
AU  - Eurico Arruda
TI  - Infection of human lymphomononuclear cells by SARS-CoV-2
AID  - 10.1101/2020.07.28.225912
DP  - 2020 Jan 01
TA  - bioRxiv
PG  - 2020.07.28.225912
4099  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2020/07/29/2020.07.28.225912.short
4100  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2020/07/29/2020.07.28.225912.full
AB  - Although SARS-CoV-2 severe infection is associated with a hyperinflammatory state, lymphopenia is an immunological hallmark, and correlates with poor prognosis in COVID-19. However, it remains unknown if circulating human lymphocytes and monocytes are susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 infection. In this study, SARS-CoV-2 infection of human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) was investigated both in vitro and in vivo. We found that in vitro infection of whole PBMCs from healthy donors was productive of virus progeny. Results revealed that monocytes, as well as B and T lymphocytes, are susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 active infection and viral replication was indicated by detection of double-stranded RNA. Moreover, flow cytometry and immunofluorescence analysis revealed that SARS-CoV-2 was frequently detected in monocytes and B lymphocytes from COVID-19 patients, and less frequently in CD4+T lymphocytes. The rates of SARS-CoV-2-infected monocytes in PBMCs from COVID-19 patients increased over time from symptom onset. Additionally, SARS-CoV-2-positive monocytes and B and CD4+T lymphocytes were detected by immunohistochemistry in post mortem lung tissue. SARS-CoV-2 infection of blood circulating leukocytes in COVID-19 patients may have important implications for disease pathogenesis, immune dysfunction, and virus spread within the host.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.