SARS-CoV-2 infects the human kidney and drives fibrosis in kidney organoids

Jitske Jansen, Katharina C. Reimer, James S. Nagai, Finny S. Varghese, Gijs J. Overheul, Marit de Beer, Rona Roverts, Deniz Daviran, Liline A.S. Fermin, Brigith Willemsen, Marcel Beukenboom, Sonja Djudjaj, Saskia von Stillfried, Larissa E. van Eijk, Mirjam Mastik, Marian Bulthuis, Wilfred den Dunnen, Harry van Goor, Jan-Luuk Hillebrands, Sergio H. TrianaTheodore Alexandrov, Marie-Cherelle Timm, Bartholomeus T. van den Berge, Martijn van den Broek, Quincy Nlandu, Joelle Heijnert, Eric M.J. Bindels, Remco M. Hoogenboezem, Fieke Mooren, Christoph Kuppe, Pascal Miesen, Katrien Grünberg, Ties Ijzermans, Eric J. Steenbergen, Jan Czogalla, Michiel F. Schreuder, Nico Sommerdijk, Anat Akiva, Peter Boor, Victor G. Puelles, Jürgen Floege, Tobias B. Huber, Hagit Achdout, Anthony Aimon, Elad Bar-David, Haim Barr, Amir Ben-Shmuel, James Bennett, Melissa L. Boby, Bruce Borden, Gregory R. Bowman, Juliane Brun, Sarma BVNBS, Mark Calmiano, Anna Carbery, Emma Cattermole, Eugene Chernychenko, John D. Choder, Austin Clyde, Joseph E. Coffland, Galit Cohen, Jason Cole, Alessandro Contini, Lisa Cox, Milan Cvitkovic, Alex Dias, Kim Donckers, David L. Dotson, Alica Douangamath, Shirly Duberstein, Tim Dudgeon, Louise Dunnett, Peter K. Eastman, Noam Erez, Charles J. Eyermann, Mike Fairhead, Gwen Fate, Daren Fearon, Oleg Federov, Matteo Ferla, Rafaela S. Fernandes, Lori Ferrins, Richard Foster, Holly Foster, Ronen Gabizon, Adolfo Garcia-Sastre, Victor O. Gawriljuk, Paul Gehrtz, Carina Gileadi, Charline Giroud, William G. Glass, Robert Glen, Itai glinert, Andre S. Godoy, Marian Gorichko, Tyler Gorrie-Stone, Ed J. Griffen, Storm Hassell Hart, Jag Heer, Micheal Henry, Michelle Hill, Sam Horrell, Matthew F.D. Hurley, Tomer Israely, Andrew Jajack, Eric Jnoff, Dirk Jochmans, Tobias John, Steven De Jonghe, Anastassia L. Kantsadi, Peter W. Kenny, J.L. Kiappes, Lizbe Koekemoer, Boris Kovar, Tobias Krojer, Alpha A. Lee, Bruce A. Lefker, Haim Levy, Nir London, Petra Lukacik, Hannah Bruce Macdonald, Beth Maclean, Tika R. Malla, Tatiana Matviiuk, Willam McCorkindale, Briana L. McGovern, Sharon Melamed, Oleg Michurin, Halina Mikolajek, Bruce F. Milne, Aaron Morris, Garret M. Morris, Melody Jane Morwitzer, Demetri Moustakas, Aline M. Nakamura, Jose Brandao Neto, Johan Neyts, Luong Nguyen, Gabriela D. Noske, Vladas Oleinikovas, Glaucius Oliva, David Owen, Vladimir Psenak, Ruby Pai, Jin Pan, Nir Paran, Benjamin Perry, Maneesh Pingle, Jakir Pinjari, Boaz Politi, Ailsa Powell, Reut Puni, Victor L. Rangel, Ranbabu N. Reddi, St Patrick Reid, Efrat Resnick, Emily Grace Ripka, Matthew C. Robinson, Ralph P. Robinson, Jaime Rodriguez-Guerra, Romel Rosales, Dominic Rufa, Chris Schofield, Mikhail Shafeev, Aarif Shaikh, Jiye Shi, Khriesto Shurrush, Sukrit Sing, Assa Sittner, Rachael Skyner, Adam Smalley, Mihaela D. Smilova, Leonardo J. Solmesky, John Spencer, Claire Strain-Damarell, Vishwanath Swamy, Hadas Tamir, Rachael Tennant, Warren Thompson, Andrew Thompson, Susana Tomasia, Anthony Tumber, Ioannis Vakonakis, Ronald P. van Rij, Laura van Geel, Mariana Vaschetto, Einat B. Vitner, Vincent Voelz, Andra Volkamer, Frank von Delft, Annette von Delft, Martin Walsh, Walter Ward, Charlie Weatherall, Shay Weiss, Kris M. White, Conor Francis Wild, Matthew Wittmann, Nathan Wright, Yfat Yahalom-Ronen, Daniel Zaidmann, Hadeer Zidane, Nicole Zitzmann, Ivan G. Costa, Rebekka K. Schneider, Bart Smeets, Rafael Kramann* (Corresponding Author)

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

77 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Kidney failure is frequently observed during and after COVID-19, but it remains elusive whether this is a direct effect of the virus. Here, we report that SARS-CoV-2 directly infects kidney cells and is associated with increased tubule-interstitial kidney fibrosis in patient autopsy samples. To study direct effects of the virus on the kidney independent of systemic effects of COVID-19, we infected human-induced pluripotent stem-cell-derived kidney organoids with SARS-CoV-2. Single-cell RNA sequencing indicated injury and dedifferentiation of infected cells with activation of profibrotic signaling pathways. Importantly, SARS-CoV-2 infection also led to increased collagen 1 protein expression in organoids. A SARS-CoV-2 protease inhibitor was able to ameliorate the infection of kidney cells by SARS-CoV-2. Our results suggest that SARS-CoV-2 can directly infect kidney cells and induce cell injury with subsequent fibrosis. These data could explain both acute kidney injury in COVID-19 patients and the development of chronic kidney disease in long COVID.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)217-231.e8
Number of pages24
JournalCell Stem Cell
Volume29
Issue number2
Early online date25 Dec 2021
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 3 Feb 2022

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