ArticleProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America2021
Reverse-transcribed SARS-CoV-2 RNA can integrate into the genome of cultured human cells and can be expressed in patient-derived tissues.
Article in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 144 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
144 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 296 citations in OpenAlex.
- JAK inhibitors and COVID-19.Journal for immunotherapy of cancer · 2022Pooled it
- RNA Polymerase Inhibitor Enisamium for Treatment of Moderate COVID-19 Patients: A Randomized, Placebo-Controlled, Multicenter, Double-Blind Phase 3 Clinical Trial.Advances in respiratory medicine · 2024Trial
- The cGAS-STING/MITA pathway in innate antiviral immunity and beyond.Cell insight · 2026Review
- Article
- RNA-templated diversity generation via reverse transcription and homologous recombination: an evolutionary hypothesis.Theory in biosciences = Theorie in den Biowissenschaften · 2026Article
- Single-Cell RNA-Seq Profiling of Transposable Element Expression in Human Peripheral Blood Cells During Viral Infections.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Article
- Comprehensive methylome and transcriptome profiling reveals specific biomarkers for bovine viral diarrhea virus persistent infection in calves.Frontiers in immunology · 2026Article
- COVID-19 and Lung Cancer Interactions: A Literature Review.Medical sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Preventing secondary primary malignancies (SPMs) in CAR-T cell therapy through site-specific transgene integration into genomic safe harbors (GSHs).Journal of translational medicine · 2025Review
- Unique Features and Collateral Immune Effects of mRNA-LNP COVID-19 Vaccines: Plausible Mechanisms of Adverse Events and Complications.Pharmaceutics · 2025Review
- The credibility struggle of mRNA vaccine rumors: A communication model to understand the impact of skepticism on public perception.Journal of public health research · 2025Article
- Advancements and challenges in next-generation mRNA vaccine manufacturing systems.Clinical and experimental vaccine research · 2025Review
- Post-COVID-19 Vaccine Hyperproduction of Anti-Spike Antibodies and Rheumatological Manifestations.Vaccines · 2025Article
- Exploring the oncogenic potential of SARS-CoV-2 in the gastrointestinal tract.World journal of gastroenterology · 2025Review
- Causes of symptoms and symptom persistence in long COVID and myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome.Cell reports. Medicine · 2025Review
- Do Long COVID and COVID Vaccine Side Effects Share Pathophysiological Picture and Biochemical Pathways?International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Review
- Immunogenicity, Efficacy and Twelve-Month Storage Stability Studies of a Lyophilized Rabies mRNA Vaccine.Vaccines · 2025Article
- HBV sequence integrated to enhancer acting as oncogenic driver epigenetically promotes hepatocellular carcinoma development.Journal of experimental & clinical cancer research : CR · 2025Article
- Advancing Precision Medicine: Recent Innovations in Gene Editing Technologies.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2025Review
- mRNA-1273 is placenta-permeable and immunogenic in the fetus.Molecular therapy. Nucleic acids · 2025Article
84 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Prolonged detection of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) RNA and recurrence of PCR-positive tests have been widely reported in patients after recovery from COVID-19, but some of these patients do not appear to shed infectious virus. We investigated the possibility that SARS-CoV-2 RNAs can be reverse-transcribed and integrated into the DNA of human cells in culture and that transcription of the integrated sequences might account for some of the positive PCR tests seen in patients. In support of this hypothesis, we found that DNA copies of SARS-CoV-2 sequences can be integrated into the genome of infected human cells. We found target site duplications flanking the viral sequences and consensus LINE1 endonuclease recognition sequences at the integration sites, consistent with a LINE1 retrotransposon-mediated, target-primed reverse transcription and retroposition mechanism. We also found, in some patient-derived tissues, evidence suggesting that a large fraction of the viral sequences is transcribed from integrated DNA copies of viral sequences, generating viral-host chimeric transcripts. The integration and transcription of viral sequences may thus contribute to the detection of viral RNA by PCR in patients after infection and clinical recovery. Because we have detected only subgenomic sequences derived mainly from the 3' end of the viral genome integrated into the DNA of the host cell, infectious virus cannot be produced from the integrated subgenomic SARS-CoV-2 sequences.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.