SARS-CoV-2 infection activates inflammatory macrophages in vascular immune organoids

Chiu Wang Chau; Alex To; Rex K.H. Au-Yeung; Kaiming Tang; Yang Xiang; Degong Ruan; Lanlan Zhang; Hera Wong; Shihui Zhang; Man Ting Au; Seok Hwan Chung; Euijeong Song; Dong‐Hee Choi; Pentao Liu; Shuofeng Yuan; Chunyi Wen; Ryohichi Sugimura

doi:10.1038/s41598-024-59405-9

ImmunologyScientific ReportsApr 16, 2024

Peer-reviewed journal article

SARS-CoV-2 infection activates inflammatory macrophages in vascular immune organoids

Chiu Wang Chau iD, Alex To iD, Rex K.H. Au-Yeung iD, Kaiming Tang iD, Yang Xiang iD, Degong Ruan, Lanlan Zhang iD, Hera Wong, Shihui Zhang iD, Man Ting Au iD, Seok Hwan Chung iD, Euijeong Song iD, Dong‐Hee Choi iD, Pentao Liu iD, Shuofeng Yuan iD, Chunyi Wen iD, Ryohichi Sugimura iD

Abstract

SARS-CoV-2 provokes devastating tissue damage by cytokine release syndrome and leads to multi-organ failure. Modeling the process of immune cell activation and subsequent tissue damage is a significant task. Organoids from human tissues advanced our understanding of SARS-CoV-2 infection mechanisms though, they are missing crucial components: immune cells and endothelial cells. This study aims to generate organoids with these components. We established vascular immune organoids from human pluripotent stem cells and examined the effect of SARS-CoV-2 infection. We demonstrated that infections activated inflammatory macrophages. Notably, the upregulation of interferon signaling supports macrophages role in cytokine release syndrome. We propose vascular immune organoids are a useful platform to model and discover factors that ameliorate SARS-CoV-2-mediated cytokine release syndrome.

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