Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Case Reports
. 2022 Mar 3;14(3):515.
doi: 10.3390/v14030515.

Multiorgan and Vascular Tropism of SARS-CoV-2

Cédric Hartard  1   2 , Ahlam Chaqroun  2 , Nicla Settembre  3 , Guillaume Gauchotte  4 , Benjamin Lefevre  5   6 , Elodie Marchand  7 , Charles Mazeaud  8 , Duc Trung Nguyen  9 , Laurent Martrille  7 , Isabelle Koscinski  10 , Sergueï Malikov  3 , Evelyne Schvoerer  1   2
Affiliations
Case Reports

Multiorgan and Vascular Tropism of SARS-CoV-2

Cédric Hartard et al. Viruses. .

Abstract

Although the respiratory tract is the main target of SARS-CoV-2, other tissues and organs are permissive to the infection. In this report, we investigated this wide-spectrum tropism by studying the SARS-CoV-2 genetic intra-host variability in multiple tissues. The virological and histological investigation of multiple specimens from a post-mortem COVID-19 patient was performed. SARS-CoV-2 genome was detected in several tissues, including the lower respiratory system, cardio-vascular biopsies, stomach, pancreas, adrenal gland, mediastinal ganglion and testicles. Subgenomic RNA transcripts were also detected, in favor of an active viral replication, especially in testicles. Ultra-deep sequencing allowed us to highlight several SARS-CoV-2 mutations according to tissue distribution. More specifically, mutations of the spike protein, i.e., V341A (18.3%), E654 (44%) and H655R (30.8%), were detected in the inferior vena cava. SARS-CoV-2 variability can contribute to heterogeneous distributions of viral quasispecies, which may affect the COVID-19 pathogeny.

Keywords: SARS-CoV-2; ultra-deep sequencing; viral quasispecies.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
(A) Lung tissue, standard histology: diffuse alveolar damages with hyaline membranes (arrows) and moderate inflammatory infiltrate (hematoxylin, eosin and saffron, ×200). Immunohistochemistry, SARS-CoV-2 nucleo-capsid protein: (B) olfactory cleft: strong cytoplasmic staining of endoluminal macrophages (arrows) and mild staining of the epithelium (arrowheads); (C) testicular parenchyma: moderate cytoplasmic staining of germ cells in the seminiferous tubules (arrows); (D) negative staining in renal parenchyma; (E) non-significant weak and diffuse staining in autolytic pancreatic parenchyma (×200).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Anatomical diagram of variant distribution according to autopsied patient tissues. The amino acid colored in blue matches SARS-CoV-2 Wuhan-Hu-1 sequence (NC 045512.2: 21563-25384); amino acids with other colors match the mutated sequence (designed by biorender).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Ackermann M., Verleden S.E., Kuehnel M., Haverich A., Welte T., Laenger F., Vanstapel A., Werlein C., Stark H., Tzankov A., et al. Pulmonary Vascular Endothelialitis, Thrombosis, and Angiogenesis in Covid-19. N. Engl. J. Med. 2020;383:120–128. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa2015432. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Gauchotte G., Venard V., Segondy M., Cadoz C., Esposito-Fava A., Barraud D., Louis G. SARS-Cov-2 fulminant myocarditis: An autopsy and histopathological case study. Int. J. Legal Med. 2021;135:577–581. doi: 10.1007/s00414-020-02500-z. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Basso C., Leone O., Rizzo S., De Gaspari M., Van Der Wal A.C., Aubry M.C., Bois M.C., Lin P.T., Maleszewski J.J., Stone J.R. Pathological features of COVID-19-associated myocardial injury: A multicentre cardiovascular pathology study. Eur. Heart J. 2020;41:3827–3835. doi: 10.1093/eurheartj/ehaa664. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Guéant J., Guéant-Rodriguez R., Fromonot J., Oussalah A., Louis H., Chery C., Gette M., Gleye S., Callet J., Raso J., et al. Elastase and exacerbation of neutrophil innate immunity are involved in multi-visceral manifestations of COVID-19. Allergy. 2021;76:1846–1858. doi: 10.1111/all.14746. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Delgado-Gonzalez P., Gonzalez-Villarreal C.A., Roacho-Perez J.A., Quiroz-Reyes A.G., Islas J.F., Delgado-Gallegos J.L., Arellanos-Soto D., Galan-Huerta K.A., Garza-Treviño E.N. Inflammatory effect on the gastrointestinal system associated with COVID-19. World J. Gastroenterol. 2021;27:4160–4171. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v27.i26.4160. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

Publication types