ArticleFrontiers in cellular and infection microbiology2021
SARS-CoV-2 Infects Endothelial Cells
Article in Frontiers in cellular and infection microbiology, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 109 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
109 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 147 citations in OpenAlex.
- COVID-19 Vasculitis and vasculopathy-Distinct immunopathology emerging from the close juxtaposition of Type II Pneumocytes and Pulmonary Endothelial Cells.Seminars in immunopathology · 2022Pooled it
- Detection of bovine coronavirus in myocardial tissue of a naturally infected calf.One health (Amsterdam, Netherlands) · 2026Article
- Unveiling alternate pathways for SARS-CoV-2 infection via extracellular vesicle-mediated transfer of ACE2 and TMPRSS2.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Virus-induced endothelial senescence as a cause and driving factor for ME/CFS and long COVID: mediated by a dysfunctional immune system.Cell death & disease · 2026Review
- C-terminus-outward orientation of SARS-CoV-2 envelope proteins on viral capsid enables a novel virus-cell interaction pathway.Frontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2026Article
- Quantifying endothelial damage by digital droplet polymerase chain reaction (PCR) of endothelial cell-free DNA in COVID-19 patients.Research and practice in thrombosis and haemostasis · 2026Article
- SARS-CoV-2 uptake and inflammatory response in senescent endothelial cells are regulated by the BSG/VEGFR2 pathway.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025Article
- Tissue-Engineered Three-Dimensional Platforms for Disease Modeling and Therapeutic Development.Tissue engineering. Part B, Reviews · 2025Review
- Sustained Vascular Inflammatory Effects of SARS-CoV-2 Spike Protein on Human Endothelial Cells.Inflammation · 2025Article
- SARS-CoV-2 infection promotes lung thrombosis by inducing integrinβ3 expression in vascular endothelial cells.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Particulate Matter Exposure and Viral Infections: Relevance to Highly Polluted Settings such as Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.Current environmental health reports · 2025Review
- Endothelial growth media components alter SARS-CoV-2 spike-directed growth kinetics.Journal of virological methods · 2025Article
- Understanding the Impact of SARS-CoV-2 on Lung Endothelial Cells: Brief Mechanisms Unveiled.Cell biochemistry and biophysics · 2025Review
- Adoptive cell transfer of piezo-activated macrophage rescues immunosuppressed rodents from life-threating bacterial infections.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Cerebromicrovascular mechanisms contributing to long COVID: implications for neurocognitive health.GeroScience · 2025Review
- Heparan sulfate proteoglycans remodel SARS-CoV-2 spike conformation to allow integrin interaction and infection of endothelial cells.Frontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2025Article
- Heterologous prime-pull mucosal vaccination with an adjuvanted RBD vaccine elicits robust IgA production and protects against SARS-CoV-2.Frontiers in immunology · 2025Article
- Lung damage in SARS-CoV-2 patients: An autopsy study in the era of vaccination.European journal of clinical investigation · 2025Article
- Challenging the notion of endothelial infection by SARS-CoV-2: insights from the current scientific evidence.Frontiers in immunology · 2025Article
- COVID-19 Exacerbates Neurovascular Uncoupling and Contributes to Endothelial Dysfunction in Patients with Mild Cognitive Impairment.Biomolecules · 2024Article
49 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
23 authors at 4 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
SARS-CoV-2 infection can cause fatal inflammatory lung pathology, including thrombosis and increased pulmonary vascular permeability leading to edema and hemorrhage. In addition to the lung, cytokine storm-induced inflammatory cascade also affects other organs. SARS-CoV-2 infection-related vascular inflammation is characterized by endotheliopathy in the lung and other organs. Whether SARS-CoV-2 causes endotheliopathy by directly infecting endothelial cells is not known and is the focus of the present study. We observed 1) the co-localization of SARS-CoV-2 with the endothelial cell marker CD31 in the lungs of SARS-CoV-2-infected mice expressing hACE2 in the lung by intranasal delivery of adenovirus 5-hACE2 (Ad5-hACE2 mice) and non-human primates at both the protein and RNA levels, and 2) SARS-CoV-2 proteins in endothelial cells by immunogold labeling and electron microscopic analysis. We also detected the co-localization of SARS-CoV-2 with CD31 in autopsied lung tissue obtained from patients who died from severe COVID-19. Comparative analysis of RNA sequencing data of the lungs of infected Ad5-hACE2 and Ad5-empty (control) mice revealed upregulated KRAS signaling pathway, a well-known pathway for cellular activation and dysfunction. Further, we showed that SARS-CoV-2 directly infects mature mouse aortic endothelial cells (AoECs) that were activated by performing an aortic sprouting assay prior to exposure to SARS-CoV-2. This was demonstrated by co-localization of SARS-CoV-2 and CD34 by immunostaining and detection of viral particles in electron microscopic studies. Moreover, the activated AoECs became positive for ACE-2 but not quiescent AoECs. Together, our results indicate that in addition to pneumocytes, SARS-CoV-2 also directly infects mature vascular endothelial cells
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Registered trials
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.