SARS-CoV-2 infects adipose tissue in a fat depot- and viral lineage-dependent manner.

Visceral adiposity is a risk factor for severe COVID-19, and a link between adipose tissue infection and disease progression has been proposed. Here we demonstrate that SARS-CoV-2 infects human adipose tissue and undergoes productive infection in fat cells. However, susceptibility to infection and the cellular response depends on the anatomical origin of the cells and the viral lineage. Visceral fat cells express more ACE2 and are more susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 infection than their subcutaneous counterparts. SARS-CoV-2 infection leads to inhibition of lipolysis in subcutaneous fat cells, while in visceral fat cells, it results in higher expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines. Viral load and cellular response are attenuated when visceral fat cells are infected with the SARS-CoV-2 gamma variant. A similar degree of cell death occurs 4-days after SARS-CoV-2 infection, regardless of the cell origin or viral lineage. Hence, SARS-CoV-2 infects human fat cells, replicating and altering cell function and viability in a depot- and viral lineage-dependent fashion. © 2022. The Author(s).

Citation

Tatiana Dandolini Saccon, Felippe Mousovich-Neto, Raissa Guimarães Ludwig, Victor Corasolla Carregari, Ana Beatriz Dos Anjos Souza, Amanda Stephane Cruz Dos Passos, Matheus Cavalheiro Martini, Priscilla Paschoal Barbosa, Gabriela Fabiano de Souza, Stéfanie Primon Muraro, Julia Forato, Mariene Ribeiro Amorim, Rafael Elias Marques, Flavio Protasio Veras, Ester Barreto, Tiago Tomazini Gonçalves, Isadora Marques Paiva, Narayana P B Fazolini, Carolina Mie Kawagosi Onodera, Ronaldo Bragança Martins Junior, Paulo Henrique Cavalcanti de Araújo, Sabrina Setembre Batah, Rosa Maria Mendes Viana, Danilo Machado de Melo, Alexandre Todorovic Fabro, Eurico Arruda, Fernando Queiroz Cunha, Thiago Mattar Cunha, Marco Antônio M Pretti, Bradley Joseph Smith, Henrique Marques-Souza, Thiago L Knittel, Gabriel Palermo Ruiz, Gerson S Profeta, Tereza Cristina Minto Fontes-Cal, Mariana Boroni, Marco Aurélio Ramirez Vinolo, Alessandro S Farias, Pedro Manoel M Moraes-Vieira, Joyce Maria Annichino Bizzacchi, Tambet Teesalu, Felipe David Mendonça Chaim, Everton Cazzo, Elinton Adami Chaim, José Luiz Proença-Módena, Daniel Martins-de-Souza, Mariana Kiomy Osako, Luiz Osório Leiria, Marcelo A Mori. SARS-CoV-2 infects adipose tissue in a fat depot- and viral lineage-dependent manner. Nature communications. 2022 Sep 29;13(1):5722

PMID: 36175400

search → result