ArticleFrontiers in cellular and infection microbiology2022
Evidence of Infection of Human Embryonic Stem Cells by SARS-CoV-2.
Article in Frontiers in cellular and infection microbiology, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 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
4 citing papers in PubMed, 5 citations in OpenAlex.
- SARS-CoV-2 pseudoparticles preferentially infect ectoderm in human embryonic tissues.Frontiers in cell and developmental biology · 2026Article
- Vesicle-associated membrane protein 5 is an intrinsic defense factor for embryonic stem cells against coronaviruses.Nature communications · 2025Article
- The role of viral infection in implantation failure: direct and indirect effects.Reproductive biology and endocrinology : RB&E · 2024Review
- Systematic Exploration of SARS-CoV-2 Adaptation to Vero E6, Vero E6/TMPRSS2, and Calu-3 Cells.Genome biology and evolution · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
10 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) was initially described to target the respiratory system and now has been reported to infect a variety of cell types, including cardiomyocytes, neurons, hepatocytes, and gut enterocytes. However, it remains unclear whether the virus can directly infect human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) or early embryos. Herein, we sought to investigate this question in a cell-culture system of hESCs. Both the RNA and S protein of SARS-CoV-2 were detected in the infected hESCs and the formation of syncytium was observed. The increased level of subgenomic viral RNA and the presence of dsRNA indicate active replication of SARS-CoV-2 in hESCs. The increase of viral titers in the supernatants revealed virion release, further indicating the successful life cycle of SARS-CoV-2 in hESCs. Remarkably, immunofluorescence microscopy showed that only a small portion of hESCs were infected, which may reflect low expression of SARS-CoV-2 receptors. By setting |log2 (fold change)| > 0.5 as the threshold, a total of 1,566 genes were differentially expressed in SARS-CoV-2-infected hESCs, among which 17 interferon-stimulated genes (ISGs) were significantly upregulated. Altogether, our results provide novel evidence to support the ability of SARS-CoV-2 to infect and replicate in hESCs.
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.