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Easley KF, Edenfield RC, Lott MEJ, Reed RC, Das Sarma J, Mehta AJ, Staitieh BS, Lipp EK, Cho IK, Johnson SK, Jones CA, Bebin-Blackwell AG, Levy JM, Tompkins SM, Easley CA, Koval M. Chronic alcohol use primes bronchial cells for altered inflammatory response and barrier dysfunction during SARS-CoV-2 infection. Am J Physiol Lung Cell Mol Physiol 2023; 325:L647-L661. [PMID: 37786945 DOI: 10.1152/ajplung.00381.2022] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/18/2022] [Revised: 07/26/2023] [Accepted: 09/15/2023] [Indexed: 10/04/2023] Open
Abstract
Alcohol use disorder (AUD) is a significant public health concern and people with AUD are more likely to develop severe acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) in response to respiratory infections. To examine whether AUD was a risk factor for more severe outcome in response to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection, we examined early responses to infection using cultured differentiated bronchial epithelial cells derived from brushings obtained from people with AUD or without AUD. RNA-seq analysis of uninfected cells determined that AUD cells were enriched for expression of epidermal genes as compared with non-AUD cells. Bronchial epithelial cells from patients with AUD showed a significant decrease in barrier function 72 h postinfection, as determined by transepithelial electrical resistance. In contrast, barrier function of non-AUD cells was enhanced 72 h after SARS-CoV-2 infection. AUD cells showed claudin-7 that did not colocalize with zonula occludens-1 (ZO-1), indicative of disorganized tight junctions. However, both AUD and non-AUD cells showed decreased β-catenin expression following SARS-CoV-2 infection. To determine the impact of AUD on the inflammatory response to SARS-CoV-2 infection, cytokine secretion was measured by multiplex analysis. SARS-CoV-2-infected AUD bronchial cells had enhanced secretion of multiple proinflammatory cytokines including TNFα, IL-1β, and IFNγ as opposed to non-AUD cells. In contrast, secretion of the barrier-protective cytokines epidermal growth factor (EGF) and granulocyte macrophage-colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF) was enhanced for non-AUD bronchial cells. Taken together, these data support the hypothesis that AUD is a risk factor for COVID-19, where alcohol primes airway epithelial cells for increased inflammation and increased barrier dysfunction and increased inflammation in response to infection by SARS-CoV-2.NEW & NOTEWORTHY Alcohol use disorder (AUD) is a significant risk factor for severe acute respiratory distress syndrome. We found that AUD causes a phenotypic shift in gene expression in human bronchial epithelial cells, enhancing expression of epidermal genes. AUD cells infected with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) had higher levels of proinflammatory cytokine secretion and barrier dysfunction not present in infected non-AUD cells, consistent with increased early COVID-19 severity due to AUD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kristen F Easley
- Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia, United States
| | - R Clayton Edenfield
- Department of Environmental Health Science, College of Public Health, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, United States
- Regenerative Bioscience Center, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, United States
| | - Megan E J Lott
- Department of Environmental Health Science, College of Public Health, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, United States
| | - Ryan C Reed
- Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia, United States
| | - Jayasri Das Sarma
- Department of Biological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Kolkata, Mohanpur, West Bengal, India
- Department of Ophthalmology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
| | - Ashish J Mehta
- Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia, United States
- Atlanta Veterans Affairs Health Care System, Decatur, Georgia, United States
| | - Bashar S Staitieh
- Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia, United States
| | - Erin K Lipp
- Department of Environmental Health Science, College of Public Health, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, United States
| | - In Ki Cho
- Department of Environmental Health Science, College of Public Health, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, United States
- Regenerative Bioscience Center, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, United States
| | - Scott K Johnson
- Center for Vaccines and Immunology, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, United States
| | - Cheryl A Jones
- Center for Vaccines and Immunology, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, United States
| | | | - Joshua M Levy
- Department of Otolaryngology, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia, United States
- National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, United States
| | - S Mark Tompkins
- Center for Vaccines and Immunology, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, United States
| | - Charles A Easley
- Department of Environmental Health Science, College of Public Health, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, United States
- Regenerative Bioscience Center, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, United States
| | - Michael Koval
- Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia, United States
- Department of Cell Biology, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia, United States
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Lott MEJ, Norfolk WA, Dailey CA, Foley AM, Melendez-Declet C, Robertson MJ, Rathbun SL, Lipp EK. Direct wastewater extraction as a simple and effective method for SARS-CoV-2 surveillance and COVID-19 community-level monitoring. FEMS Microbes 2023; 4:xtad004. [PMID: 37333441 PMCID: PMC10117872 DOI: 10.1093/femsmc/xtad004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/30/2022] [Revised: 11/23/2022] [Accepted: 01/11/2023] [Indexed: 10/22/2023] Open
Abstract
Wastewater surveillance has proven to be an effective tool to monitor the transmission and emergence of infectious agents at a community scale. Workflows for wastewater surveillance generally rely on concentration steps to increase the probability of detection of low-abundance targets, but preconcentration can substantially increase the time and cost of analyses while also introducing additional loss of target during processing. To address some of these issues, we conducted a longitudinal study implementing a simplified workflow for SARS-CoV-2 detection from wastewater, using a direct column-based extraction approach. Composite influent wastewater samples were collected weekly for 1 year between June 2020 and June 2021 in Athens-Clarke County, Georgia, USA. Bypassing any concentration step, low volumes (280 µl) of influent wastewater were extracted using a commercial kit, and immediately analyzed by RT-qPCR for the SARS-CoV-2 N1 and N2 gene targets. SARS-CoV-2 viral RNA was detected in 76% (193/254) of influent samples, and the recovery of the surrogate bovine coronavirus was 42% (IQR: 28%, 59%). N1 and N2 assay positivity, viral concentration, and flow-adjusted daily viral load correlated significantly with per-capita case reports of COVID-19 at the county-level (ρ = 0.69-0.82). To compensate for the method's high limit of detection (approximately 106-107 copies l-1 in wastewater), we extracted multiple small-volume replicates of each wastewater sample. With this approach, we detected as few as five cases of COVID-19 per 100 000 individuals. These results indicate that a direct-extraction-based workflow for SARS-CoV-2 wastewater surveillance can provide informative and actionable results.
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Affiliation(s)
- Megan E J Lott
- Department of Environmental Health Science, University of Georgia, 150 East Green Street, Athens, GA 30602, United States
| | - William A Norfolk
- Department of Environmental Health Science, University of Georgia, 150 East Green Street, Athens, GA 30602, United States
| | - Cody A Dailey
- Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of Georgia, 101 Buck Road, Athens, GA 30606, United States
| | - Amelia M Foley
- Department of Environmental Health Science, University of Georgia, 150 East Green Street, Athens, GA 30602, United States
| | - Carolina Melendez-Declet
- Department of Environmental Health Science, University of Georgia, 150 East Green Street, Athens, GA 30602, United States
| | - Megan J Robertson
- Department of Environmental Health Science, University of Georgia, 150 East Green Street, Athens, GA 30602, United States
| | - Stephen L Rathbun
- Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of Georgia, 101 Buck Road, Athens, GA 30606, United States
| | - Erin K Lipp
- Department of Environmental Health Science, University of Georgia, 150 East Green Street, Athens, GA 30602, United States
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