ArticleCell stem cell2022
SARS-CoV-2 infects the human kidney and drives fibrosis in kidney organoids.
Open access · bronzeAbstract read
In one paragraph
Article in Cell stem cell, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 158 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
158citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
20.0field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
What it found
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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.
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Who cites it
158 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 260 citations in OpenAlex.
- A composite ranking of risk factors for COVID-19 time-to-event data from a Turkish cohort.Computational biology and chemistry · 2022Pooled it
- A small-molecule TNIK inhibitor targets fibrosis in preclinical and clinical models.Nature biotechnology · 2025Trial
- Real-time sensing-integrated organoid-on-a-chip platforms: Technological progress and emerging biomedical applications.Bioactive materials · 2026Review
- Diverse applications of volume CLEM analysis in cell biology: brief overview, unique techniques and recent notable works.Microscopy (Oxford, England) · 2026Review
- Kidney organoid vascularization: current advancements in the field.Regenerative therapy · 2026Article
- Induction of fibrosis in human kidney organoids delineates mechanisms and therapeutic targets of fibrotic kidney disease.Stem cell research & therapy · 2026Article
- SARS-CoV-2 nonspike structural proteins hijack mucosa epithelial cell fate.Cell death & disease · 2026Article
- Organoids Gone Viral: A Comprehensive Review on Human Organoid Models to Study Viral Pathogenesis.Viruses · 2026Review
- Development of a Synthetic 3D Platform for Compartmentalized Kidney In Vitro Disease Modeling.Advanced healthcare materials · 2026Article
- [From autopsy to translatability].Pathologie (Heidelberg, Germany) · 2026Article
- Human organoids and organ-on-chip systems for AI-guided therapeutic discovery against emerging and re-emerging infections.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2026Review
- Biopsy Morphometrics as Predictors of Treatment Response in Primary Nephrotic Syndrome.Kidney medicine · 2026Article
- Modeling kidney fibrosis and tubular regeneration in iPSC-derived kidney organoids.Stem cell research & therapy · 2025Article
- Gene signatures and networks: linking COVID-19 to liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma.BMC infectious diseases · 2025Article
- A workflow integrating organ-on-chip culture and correlative 3D light and electron microscopy for microtissue analysis.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Long COVID and the kidney.Nature reviews. Nephrology · 2025Review
- Longitudinal kidney outcomes in surviving COVID-19 patients in Africa: a prospective Congolese single-center cohort study.Renal failure · 2025Observational
- Impact of COVID-19 on Renal Function: Analysis of Acute Kidney Injury Across Three Pandemic Waves.Biomedicines · 2025Article
- Organoids in respiratory virus research: advances and perspectives.Molecular biomedicine · 2025Review
- PHLOWER leverages single-cell multimodal data to infer complex, multi-branching cell differentiation trajectories.Nature methods · 2025Article
98 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
48 authors at 10 institutions in 3 countries.
Jitske JansenInstitute of Experimental Medicine and Systems Biology, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany; Department of Pathology, Radboud Institute for Molecular Life Sciences, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, the Netherlands; Department of Pediatric Nephrology, Radboud Institute for Molecular Life Sciences, Radboud University Medical Center, Amalia Children's Hospital, Nijmegen, the Netherlands.
Katharina C ReimerInstitute of Experimental Medicine and Systems Biology, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany; Division of Nephrology and Clinical Immunology, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany; Institute for Biomedical Technologies, Department of Cell Biology, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany.
James S NagaiInstitute for Computational Genomics, University Hospital RWTH Aachen, Germany; Joint Research Center for Computational Biomedicine, RWTH Aachen University Hospital, Aachen, Germany.
Finny S VargheseDepartment of Medical Microbiology, Radboud University Medical Center, Radboud Institute for Molecular Life Sciences, Nijmegen, the Netherlands.
Gijs J OverheulDepartment of Medical Microbiology, Radboud University Medical Center, Radboud Institute for Molecular Life Sciences, Nijmegen, the Netherlands.
Marit de BeerElectron Microscopy Center, Radboudumc Technology Center Microscopy, Radboud Institute of Molecular Life Sciences, Radboud University Medical Center, Geert Grooteplein, 6525 GA Nijmegen, the Netherlands.
Rona RovertsElectron Microscopy Center, Radboudumc Technology Center Microscopy, Radboud Institute of Molecular Life Sciences, Radboud University Medical Center, Geert Grooteplein, 6525 GA Nijmegen, the Netherlands.
Deniz DaviranElectron Microscopy Center, Radboudumc Technology Center Microscopy, Radboud Institute of Molecular Life Sciences, Radboud University Medical Center, Geert Grooteplein, 6525 GA Nijmegen, the Netherlands.
Liline A S FerminElectron Microscopy Center, Radboudumc Technology Center Microscopy, Radboud Institute of Molecular Life Sciences, Radboud University Medical Center, Geert Grooteplein, 6525 GA Nijmegen, the Netherlands.
Brigith WillemsenDepartment of Pathology, Radboud Institute for Molecular Life Sciences, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, the Netherlands.
Marcel BeukenboomDepartment of Pathology, Radboud Institute for Molecular Life Sciences, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, the Netherlands.
Sonja DjudjajDepartment of Pathology and Electron Microscopy Facility, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany.
Saskia von StillfriedDepartment of Pathology and Electron Microscopy Facility, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany.
Larissa E van EijkDepartment of Pathology and Medical Biology, University of Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen, Groningen, the Netherlands.
Mirjam MastikDepartment of Pathology and Medical Biology, University of Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen, Groningen, the Netherlands.
Marian BulthuisDepartment of Pathology and Medical Biology, University of Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen, Groningen, the Netherlands.
Wilfred den DunnenDepartment of Pathology and Medical Biology, University of Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen, Groningen, the Netherlands.
Harry van GoorDepartment of Pathology and Medical Biology, University of Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen, Groningen, the Netherlands.
Jan-Luuk HillebrandsDepartment of Pathology and Medical Biology, University of Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen, Groningen, the Netherlands.
Sergio H TrianaStructural and Computational Biology Unit, European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Heidelberg, Germany.
Theodore AlexandrovStructural and Computational Biology Unit, European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Heidelberg, Germany; Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA; Molecular Medicine Partnership Unit (MMPU), European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Heidelberg, Germany.
Marie-Cherelle TimmDepartment of Pathology and Electron Microscopy Facility, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany.
Bartholomeus T van den BergeDepartment of Pathology, Radboud Institute for Molecular Life Sciences, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, the Netherlands; Department of Nephrology, Radboud Institute for Molecular Life Sciences, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, the Netherlands.
Martijn van den BroekDepartment of Pathology, Radboud Institute for Molecular Life Sciences, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, the Netherlands; Department of Pediatric Nephrology, Radboud Institute for Molecular Life Sciences, Radboud University Medical Center, Amalia Children's Hospital, Nijmegen, the Netherlands.
Quincy NlanduDepartment of Pathology, Radboud Institute for Molecular Life Sciences, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, the Netherlands.
Joelle HeijnertDepartment of Pathology, Radboud Institute for Molecular Life Sciences, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, the Netherlands.
Eric M J BindelsDepartment of Hematology, Erasmus MC Cancer Institute, Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
Remco M HoogenboezemDepartment of Hematology, Erasmus MC Cancer Institute, Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
Fieke MoorenDepartment of Pathology, Radboud Institute for Molecular Life Sciences, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, the Netherlands.
Christoph KuppeInstitute of Experimental Medicine and Systems Biology, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany; Division of Nephrology and Clinical Immunology, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany.
Pascal MiesenDepartment of Medical Microbiology, Radboud University Medical Center, Radboud Institute for Molecular Life Sciences, Nijmegen, the Netherlands.
Katrien GrünbergDepartment of Pathology, Radboud Institute for Molecular Life Sciences, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, the Netherlands.
Ties IjzermansDepartment of Nephrology, Radboud Institute for Molecular Life Sciences, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, the Netherlands.
Eric J SteenbergenDepartment of Pathology, Radboud Institute for Molecular Life Sciences, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, the Netherlands.
Jan CzogallaDepartment of Medicine, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany.
Michiel F SchreuderDepartment of Pediatric Nephrology, Radboud Institute for Molecular Life Sciences, Radboud University Medical Center, Amalia Children's Hospital, Nijmegen, the Netherlands.
Nico SommerdijkElectron Microscopy Center, Radboudumc Technology Center Microscopy, Radboud Institute of Molecular Life Sciences, Radboud University Medical Center, Geert Grooteplein, 6525 GA Nijmegen, the Netherlands.
Anat AkivaElectron Microscopy Center, Radboudumc Technology Center Microscopy, Radboud Institute of Molecular Life Sciences, Radboud University Medical Center, Geert Grooteplein, 6525 GA Nijmegen, the Netherlands.
Peter BoorDivision of Nephrology and Clinical Immunology, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany; Department of Pathology and Electron Microscopy Facility, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany.
Victor G PuellesDepartment of Medicine, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany.
Jürgen FloegeDivision of Nephrology and Clinical Immunology, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany.
Tobias B HuberDepartment of Medicine, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany.
COVID Moonshot consortium
Ronald P van RijDepartment of Medical Microbiology, Radboud University Medical Center, Radboud Institute for Molecular Life Sciences, Nijmegen, the Netherlands.
Ivan G CostaInstitute for Computational Genomics, University Hospital RWTH Aachen, Germany; Joint Research Center for Computational Biomedicine, RWTH Aachen University Hospital, Aachen, Germany.
Rebekka K SchneiderInstitute for Biomedical Technologies, Department of Cell Biology, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany; Department of Developmental Biology, Erasmus Medisch Centrum, Rotterdam, the Netherlands; Oncode Institute, Erasmus Medisch Centrum, Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
Bart SmeetsDepartment of Pathology, Radboud Institute for Molecular Life Sciences, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, the Netherlands.
Rafael KramannInstitute of Experimental Medicine and Systems Biology, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany; Division of Nephrology and Clinical Immunology, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany; Department of Internal Medicine, Nephrology and Transplantation, Erasmus Medisch Centrum, Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Electronic address: rkramann@gmx.net.
Radboud University Nijmegen · NLRWTH Aachen University · DEUniversity Medical Center Groningen · NLUniversität Hamburg · DEUniversitätsklinikum Aachen · DEErasmus MC Cancer Institute · NLUniversity of California San Diego · USErasmus University Rotterdam · NLEuropean Molecular Biology Laboratory · DEOncode Institute · NL
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Kidney failure is frequently observed during and after COVID-19, but it remains elusive whether this is a direct effect of the virus. Here, we report that SARS-CoV-2 directly infects kidney cells and is associated with increased tubule-interstitial kidney fibrosis in patient autopsy samples. To study direct effects of the virus on the kidney independent of systemic effects of COVID-19, we infected human-induced pluripotent stem-cell-derived kidney organoids with SARS-CoV-2. Single-cell RNA sequencing indicated injury and dedifferentiation of infected cells with activation of profibrotic signaling pathways. Importantly, SARS-CoV-2 infection also led to increased collagen 1 protein expression in organoids. A SARS-CoV-2 protease inhibitor was able to ameliorate the infection of kidney cells by SARS-CoV-2. Our results suggest that SARS-CoV-2 can directly infect kidney cells and induce cell injury with subsequent fibrosis. These data could explain both acute kidney injury in COVID-19 patients and the development of chronic kidney disease in long COVID.
Indexed as
COVID-19SARS-CoV-2FibrosisHumansKidneyOrganoidsPost-Acute COVID-19 Syndromechronic kidney diseaseCOVID-19fibrosishuman iPSC kidney organoidskidney injuryprotease blockerSARS-CoV-2
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