ArticleNeurobiology of disease2021
SARS-CoV-2 deregulates the vascular and immune functions of brain pericytes via Spike protein.
Article in Neurobiology of disease, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 45 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
45 citing papers in PubMed, 68 citations in OpenAlex.
- Glymphatic system impairment in neurological disorders: potential mechanisms and therapeutic targets.Molecular biomedicine · 2026Review
- The Novel Soluble Guanylate Cyclase Stimulator Attenuates Acute Lung Injury via Inhibiting Pericyte Phenotypic Transition.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Article
- CXCL10-dependent epithelial-vascular cross-talk for endothelial activation following SARS-CoV-2 infection.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Pericytes: The forgotten controllers of a functional blood-brain barrier.PLoS pathogens · 2025Article
- Pericytes in the Development and Progression of Brain Diseases.Aging and disease · 2025Review
- The influence of SARS-CoV-2 spike protein exposure on retinal development in the human retinal organoids.Cell & bioscience · 2025Article
- Acute and long-term effects of COVID-19 on brain and mental health: A narrative review.Brain, behavior, and immunity · 2025Review
- Postinfectious Pulmonary Complications: Establishing Research Priorities to Advance the Field: An Official American Thoracic Society Workshop Report.Annals of the American Thoracic Society · 2024Review
- SARS-CoV-2 infection modifies the transcriptome of the megakaryocytes in the bone marrow.Blood advances · 2024Article
- Review
- Tracking inflammation resolution signatures in lungs after SARS-CoV-2 omicron BA.1 infection of K18-hACE2 mice.PloS one · 2024Article
- Unraveling the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein long-term effect on neuro-PASC.Frontiers in cellular neuroscience · 2024Article
- SARS-CoV-2 and vascular dysfunction: a growing role for pericytes.Cardiovascular research · 2023Article
- Article
- Recombinant SARS-CoV-2 Spike Protein and Its Receptor Binding Domain Stimulate Release of Different Pro-Inflammatory Mediators via Activation of Distinct Receptors on Human Microglia Cells.Molecular neurobiology · 2023Article
- Evidence of autoinflammation as a principal mechanism of myocardial injury in SARS-CoV-2 PCR-positive medical examiner cases.Diagnostic pathology · 2023Article
- 'Spikeopathy': COVID-19 Spike Protein Is Pathogenic, from Both Virus and Vaccine mRNA.Biomedicines · 2023Review
- Pericyte Loss in Diseases.Cells · 2023Review
- Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 Vasculopathy in a Syrian Golden Hamster Model.The American journal of pathology · 2023Article
- Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) is a respiratory illness caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2). COVID-19 pathogenesis causes vascular-mediated neurological disorders via elusive mechanisms. SARS-CoV-2 infects host cells via the binding of viral Spike (S) protein to transmembrane receptor, angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2). Although brain pericytes were recently shown to abundantly express ACE2 at the neurovascular interface, their response to SARS-CoV-2 S protein is still to be elucidated. Using cell-based assays, we found that ACE2 expression in human brain vascular pericytes was increased upon S protein exposure. Pericytes exposed to S protein underwent profound phenotypic changes associated with an elongated and contracted morphology accompanied with an enhanced expression of contractile and myofibrogenic proteins, such as α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA), fibronectin, collagen I, and neurogenic locus notch homolog protein-3 (NOTCH3). On the functional level, S protein exposure promoted the acquisition of calcium (Ca
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
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.