Human endogenous retrovirus K in the respiratory tract is associated with COVID-19 physiopathology

Autor: Jairo R. Temerozo, Natalia Fintelman-Rodrigues, Monique Cristina dos Santos, Eugenio D. Hottz, Carolina Q. Sacramento, Aline de Paula Dias da Silva, Samuel Coelho Mandacaru, Emilly Caroline dos Santos Moraes, Monique R. O. Trugilho, João S. M. Gesto, Marcelo Alves Ferreira, Felipe Betoni Saraiva, Lohanna Palhinha, Remy Martins-Gonçalves, Isaclaudia Gomes Azevedo-Quintanilha, Juliana L. Abrantes, Cássia Righy, Pedro Kurtz, Hui Jiang, Hongdong Tan, Carlos Morel, Dumith Chequer Bou-Habib, Fernando A. Bozza, Patrícia T. Bozza, Thiago Moreno L. Souza
Rok vydání: 2021
Předmět:
Zdroj: Microbiome. 10(1)
ISSN: 2049-2618
Popis: Background Critically ill 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19) patients under invasive mechanical ventilation (IMV) are 10 to 40 times more likely to die than the general population. Although progression from mild to severe COVID-19 has been associated with hypoxia, uncontrolled inflammation, and coagulopathy, the mechanisms involved in the progression to severity are poorly understood. Methods The virome of tracheal aspirates (TA) from 25 COVID-19 patients under IMV was assessed through unbiased RNA sequencing (RNA-seq), and correlation analyses were conducted using available clinical data. Unbiased sequences from nasopharyngeal swabs (NS) from mild cases and TA from non-COVID patients were included in our study for further comparisons. Results We found higher levels and differential expression of human endogenous retrovirus K (HERV-K) genes in TA from critically ill and deceased patients when comparing nasopharyngeal swabs from mild cases to TA from non-COVID patients. In critically ill patients, higher HERV-K levels were associated with early mortality (within 14 days of diagnosis) in the intensive care unit. Increased HERV-K expression in deceased patients was associated with IL-17-related inflammation, monocyte activation, and an increased consumption of clotting/fibrinolysis factors. Moreover, increased HERV-K expression was detected in human primary monocytes from healthy donors after experimental SARS-CoV-2 infection in vitro. Conclusion Our data implicate the levels of HERV-K transcripts in the physiopathology of COVID-19 in the respiratory tract of patients under invasive mechanical ventilation.
Databáze: OpenAIRE
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