Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is a global pandemic. The prevalence/severity of COVID-19 is higher among patients with cardiovascular risk factors. Despite the expression of angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2), a receptor for SARS-CoV-2 infection, in cardiomyocytes, there has been no conclusive evidence of direct viral infection although the presence of viral genome within COVID-19 patients’ hearts has been reported. Here, we overexpressed SARS-CoV-2 genes in A549 lung epithelial cells. We then isolated extracellular vesicles (EVs) and detected the presence of viral RNA within these EVs. We observed that human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (hiPSC-CMs) are receptive to these EVs, and viral genes were detectable in the cardiomyocytes. Accordingly, the uptake of viral RNA-harboring EVs led to an upregulation of inflammation-related genes in hiPSC-CMs. Thus, our findings indicate that SARS-CoV-2 RNA containing EVs represents an indirect route of viral RNA entry into cardiomyocytes. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13287-020-02033-7.
【저자키워드】 COVID-19, stem cells, Extracellular vesicles, iPSCs, Cardiomyocytes, 【초록키워드】 coronavirus disease, SARS-CoV-2, viral infection, Coronavirus disease 2019, ACE2, coronavirus, SARS-COV-2 infection, Human, Extracellular vesicles, severe acute respiratory syndrome Coronavirus, angiotensin-converting enzyme 2, global pandemic, Viral, heart, Patient, cardiovascular risk factors, epithelial cells, SARS-CoV-2 RNA, Viral RNA, receptor, extracellular vesicle, respiratory, expression, Lung epithelial cells, Angiotensin-converting enzyme, A549, Evidence, angiotensin, viral genome, evidence of, acute respiratory syndrome, supplementary material, acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus, acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, SARS-CoV-2 genes, upregulation, viral genes, direct viral infection, pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes, EVs, caused, reported, detectable, viral gene, overexpressed, SARS-CoV-2 gene, 【제목키워드】 Treatment, SARS-CoV-2, detection, Viral, extracellular vesicle, coding sequence, lung epithelial cell, overexpressing, viral RNA fragment,