ArticleScientific reports2022
An intra-cytoplasmic route for SARS-CoV-2 transmission unveiled by Helium-ion microscopy.
Article in Scientific reports, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 17 papers.
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Who cites it
17 citing papers in PubMed.
- Tunneling nanotubes: a new dimension of intercellular communication and recent progress.Cell communication and signaling : CCS · 2026Review
- Intercellular highways of viral spread: tunneling nanotubes and extracellular vesicles at the maternal-fetal interface.Current opinion in virology · 2025Review
- Visualizing the virus world inside the cell by cryo-electron tomography.Journal of virology · 2024Review
- Shot noise-mitigated secondary electron imaging with ion count-aided microscopy.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2024Article
- Review
- Article
- Mechanisms of Intracellular Communication in Cancer and Pathogen Spreading.Results and problems in cell differentiation · 2024Review
- A complex remodeling of cellular homeostasis distinguishes RSV/SARS-CoV-2 co-infected A549-hACE2 expressing cell lines.Microbial cell (Graz, Austria) · 2024Article
- Does SARS-CoV-2 Induce IgG4 Synthesis to Evade the Immune System?Biomolecules · 2023Article
- Leishmania donovani Exploits Tunneling Nanotubes for Dissemination and Propagation of B Cell Activation.Microbiology spectrum · 2023Article
- Intravital imaging of three different microvascular beds in SARS-CoV-2-infected mice.Blood advances · 2023Article
- The role of tunneling nanotubes during early stages of HIV infection and reactivation: implications in HIV cure.NeuroImmune pharmacology and therapeutics · 2023Review
- IgG4 Antibodies Induced by Repeated Vaccination May Generate Immune Tolerance to the SARS-CoV-2 Spike Protein.Vaccines · 2023Review
- Non-Classical Intercellular Communications: Basic Mechanisms and Roles in Biology and Medicine.International journal of molecular sciences · 2023Review
- SARS-CoV-2 Omicron Subvariants Balance Host Cell Membrane, Receptor, and Antibody Docking via an Overlapping Target Site.Viruses · 2023Article
- Viral proteases as therapeutic targets.Molecular aspects of medicine · 2022Review
- SARS-CoV-2: A Master of Immune Evasion.Biomedicines · 2022Review
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Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
Abstract
SARS-CoV-2 virions enter the host cells by docking their spike glycoproteins to the membrane-bound Angiotensin Converting Enzyme 2. After intracellular assembly, the newly formed virions are released from the infected cells to propagate the infection, using the extra-cytoplasmic ACE2 docking mechanism. However, the molecular events underpinning SARS-CoV-2 transmission between host cells are not fully understood. Here, we report the findings of a scanning Helium-ion microscopy study performed on Vero E6 cells infected with mNeonGreen-expressing SARS-CoV-2. Our data reveal, with unprecedented resolution, the presence of: (1) long tunneling nanotubes that connect two or more host cells over submillimeter distances; (2) large scale multiple cell fusion events (syncytia); and (3) abundant extracellular vesicles of various sizes. Taken together, these ultrastructural features describe a novel intra-cytoplasmic connection among SARS-CoV-2 infected cells that may act as an alternative route of viral transmission, disengaged from the well-known extra-cytoplasmic ACE2 docking mechanism. Such route may explain the elusiveness of SARS-CoV-2 to survive from the immune surveillance of the infected host.
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