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[Preprint]. 2021 Aug 19:2020.09.11.20191692.
doi: 10.1101/2020.09.11.20191692.

Biochemical and Biophysical Characterization of Respiratory Secretions in Severe SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) Infections

Michael J Kratochvil, Gernot Kaber, Pamela C Cai, Elizabeth B Burgener, Graham L Barlow, Mark R Nicolls, Michael G Ozawa, Donald P Regula, Ana E Pacheco-Navarro, Carlos E Milla, Nadine Nagy, Samuel Yang; Stanford COVID-19 Biobank Study Group; Angela J Rogers, Andrew J Spakowitz, Sarah C Heilshorn, Paul L Bollyky

Biochemical and Biophysical Characterization of Respiratory Secretions in Severe SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) Infections

Michael J Kratochvil et al. medRxiv. .

Update in

  • Biochemical, biophysical, and immunological characterization of respiratory secretions in severe SARS-CoV-2 infections.
    Kratochvil MJ, Kaber G, Demirdjian S, Cai PC, Burgener EB, Nagy N, Barlow GL, Popescu M, Nicolls MR, Ozawa MG, Regula DP, Pacheco-Navarro AE, Yang S, de Jesus Perez VA, Karmouty-Quintana H, Peters AM, Zhao B, Buja ML, Johnson PY, Vernon RB, Wight TN; Stanford COVID-19 Biobank Study Group; Milla CE, Rogers AJ, Spakowitz AJ, Heilshorn SC, Bollyky PL. Kratochvil MJ, et al. JCI Insight. 2022 Jun 22;7(12):e152629. doi: 10.1172/jci.insight.152629. JCI Insight. 2022. PMID: 35730564 Free PMC article.

Abstract

Thick, viscous respiratory secretions are a major pathogenic feature of COVID-19 disease, but the composition and physical properties of these secretions are poorly understood. We characterized the composition and rheological properties (i.e. resistance to flow) of respiratory secretions collected from intubated COVID-19 patients. We found the percent solids and protein content are all greatly elevated in COVID-19 compared to heathy control samples and closely resemble levels seen in cystic fibrosis (CF), a genetic disease known for thick, tenacious respiratory secretions. DNA and hyaluronan are major components of respiratory secretions in COVID-19 and are likewise abundant in cadaveric lung tissues from these patients. COVID-19 secretions exhibited heterogeneous rheological behaviors with thicker samples showing increased sensitivity to DNase and hyaluronidase treatment. These results highlight the dramatic biophysical properties of COVID-19 respiratory secretions and suggest that DNA and hyaluronan may be viable therapeutic targets in COVID-19 infection.

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