ヒトiPS細胞由来小腸上皮細胞を用いたSARS-CoV-2感染モデルの開発

抄録

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has rapidly widespread and led to global health crises. COVID-19 causes well-known respiratory failure and gastrointestinal symptoms, such as diarrhea, nausea, and vomiting. Thus, human gastrointestinal cell model is urgently needed for COVID-19 research, nevertheless, primary human cells can be difficult to obtain. In the present study, we used small intestinal epithelial like cells (SIECs) from human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) for SARS-CoV-2 infection and drug testing. We observed that iPSC-SIECs, such as absorptive cells and paneth cells, were infected with SARS-CoV-2. SARS-CoV-2 infection decreased transepithelial electrical resistance (TEER), an indicator of epithelial integrity. In addition, SARS-CoV-2 infection increased expression levels of proinflammatory genes, which are elevated in patients with COVID-19. We further observed that remdesivir treatment suppressed SARS-CoV-2 infection to SIECs. These data suggest that human iPSC-derived SIECs provide a useful in vitro model for elucidation of COVID-19 pathology.