美国宾夕法尼亚大学Guo-li Ming等研究人员合作开发出人类多能干细胞来源的类神经器官体模型，可用于测试SARS-CoV-2感染。这一研究成果于2020年9月21日在线发表在国际学术期刊《细胞—干细胞》上。

Title: Human Pluripotent Stem Cell-Derived Neural Cells and Brain Organoids Reveal SARS-CoV-2 Neurotropism Predominates in Choroid Plexus Epithelium

Author: Fadi Jacob, Sarshan R. Pather, Wei-Kai Huang, Feng Zhang, Samuel Zheng Hao Wong, Haowen Zhou, Beatrice Cubitt, Wenqiang Fan, Catherine Z. Chen, Miao Xu, Manisha Pradhan, Daniel Y. Zhang, Wei Zheng, Anne G. Bang, Hongjun Song, Juan Carlos de la Torre, Guo-li Ming

Issue&Volume: 2020-09-21

Abstract: Neurological complications are common in patients with COVID-19. While SARS-CoV-2, the causal pathogen of COVID-19, has been detected in some patient brains, its ability to infect brain cells and impact their function are not well understood. Here we investigated the susceptibility of human induced pluripotent stem cell (hiPSC)-derived monolayer brain cells and region-specific brain organoids to SARS-CoV-2 infection. We found that neurons and astrocytes were sparsely infected, but choroid plexus epithelial cells underwent robust infection. We optimized a protocol to generate choroid plexus organoids from hiPSCs and showed that productive SARS-CoV-2 infection of these organoids is associated with increased cell death and transcriptional dysregulation indicative of an inflammatory response and cellular function deficits. Together, our findings provide evidence for selective SARS-CoV-2 neurotropism and support the use of hiPSC-derived brain organoids as a platform to investigate SARS-CoV-2 infection susceptibility of brain cells, mechanisms of virus-induced brain dysfunction, and treatment strategies.

DOI: 10.1016/j.stem.2020.09.016

Source: https://www.cell.com/cell-stem-cell/fulltext/S1934-5909(20)30463-X