SARS-CoV-2 infects carotid arteries: implications for vascular disease and organ injury in COVID-19
Pfefferle, S.; Guenther, T.; Puelles, V.; Heinrich, F.; Noerz, D.; Czech-Sioli, M.; Carstens, A.; Krasemann, S.; Wong, M.; Oestereich, L.; Magnus, T.; Allweiss, L.; Edler, C.; Schroeder, A.-S.; Dandri, M.; Huber, T.; Glatzel, M.; Pueschel, K.; Grundhoff, A.; Luetgehetmann, M.; Aepfelbacher, M.; Fischer, N.
Show abstract
Stroke and central nervous system dysfunction are cardinal symptoms in critically ill corona virus disease 19 (COVID-19) patients. In an autopsy series of 32 COVID-19 patients, we investigated whether carotid arteries were infected with SARS-CoV-2 by employing genomic, virologic, histochemical and transcriptomic analyses. We show that SARS-CoV-2 productively infects and modulates vascular responses in carotid arteries. This finding has far reaching implications for the understanding and clinical treatment of COVID-19.
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