PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Menuchin-Lasowski, Yotam
AU  - Schreiber, André
AU  - Lecanda, Aarón
AU  - Mecate-Zambrano, Angeles
AU  - Brunotte, Linda
AU  - Psathaki, Olympia E.
AU  - Ludwig, Stephan
AU  - Rauen, Thomas
AU  - Schöler, Hans R.
TI  - SARS-CoV-2 infects and replicates in photoreceptor and retinal ganglion cells of human retinal organoids
AID  - 10.1101/2021.10.09.463766
DP  - 2021 Jan 01
TA  - bioRxiv
PG  - 2021.10.09.463766
4099  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2021/10/12/2021.10.09.463766.short
4100  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2021/10/12/2021.10.09.463766.full
AB  - Several studies have pointed to retinal involvement in COVID-19 disease, yet many questions remain regarding the ability of SARS-CoV-2 to infect and replicate in retinal cells and its effects on the retina. Here we have used human stem cell–derived retinal organoids to study retinal infection by the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Indeed, SARS-CoV-2 can infect and replicate in retinal organoids, as it is shown to infect different retinal lineages, such as retinal ganglion cells and photoreceptors. SARS-CoV-2 infection of retinal organoids also induces the expression of several inflammatory genes, such as interleukin 33, a gene associated with acute COVID-19 disease and retinal degeneration. Finally, we show that the use of antibodies to block the ACE2 receptor significantly reduces SARS-CoV-2 infection of retinal organoids, indicating that SARS-CoV-2 infects retinal cells in an ACE2-dependent manner. These results suggest a retinal involvement in COVID-19 and emphasize the need to monitor retinal pathologies as potential sequelae of “long COVID”.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.