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Tedbury PR, Manfredi C, Degenhardt F, Conway J, Horwath MC, McCracken C, Sorscher AJ, Moreau S, Wright C, Edwards C, Brewer J, Guarner J, de Wit E, Williamson BN, Suthar MS, Ong YT, Roback JD, Alter DN, Holter JC, Karlsen TH, Sacchi N, Romero-Gómez M, Invernizzi P, Fernández J, Buti M, Albillos A, Julià A, Valenti L, Asselta R, Banales JM, Bujanda L, de Cid R, Sarafianos SG, Hong JS, Sorscher EJ, Ehrhardt A. Mechanisms by which the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator may influence SARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-19 disease severity. FASEB J 2023; 37:e23220. [PMID: 37801035 PMCID: PMC10760435 DOI: 10.1096/fj.202300077r] [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: 03/29/2023] [Revised: 08/31/2023] [Accepted: 09/12/2023] [Indexed: 10/07/2023]
Abstract
Patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) exhibit pronounced respiratory damage and were initially considered among those at highest risk for serious harm from SARS-CoV-2 infection. Numerous clinical studies have subsequently reported that individuals with CF in North America and Europe-while susceptible to severe COVID-19-are often spared from the highest levels of virus-associated mortality. To understand features that might influence COVID-19 among patients with cystic fibrosis, we studied relationships between SARS-CoV-2 and the gene responsible for CF (i.e., the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator, CFTR). In contrast to previous reports, we found no association between CFTR carrier status (mutation heterozygosity) and more severe COVID-19 clinical outcomes. We did observe an unexpected trend toward higher mortality among control individuals compared with silent carriers of the common F508del CFTR variant-a finding that will require further study. We next performed experiments to test the influence of homozygous CFTR deficiency on viral propagation and showed that SARS-CoV-2 production in primary airway cells was not altered by the absence of functional CFTR using two independent protocols. On the contrary, experiments performed in vitro strongly indicated that virus proliferation depended on features of the mucosal fluid layer known to be disrupted by absent CFTR in patients with CF, including both low pH and increased viscosity. These results point to the acidic, viscous, and mucus-obstructed airways in patients with cystic fibrosis as unfavorable for the establishment of coronaviral infection. Our findings provide new and important information concerning relationships between the CF clinical phenotype and severity of COVID-19.
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Affiliation(s)
- Philip R. Tedbury
- Laboratory of Biochemical Pharmacology, Department of Pediatrics, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia, United States
- Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, Atlanta, Georgia, United States
| | - Candela Manfredi
- Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, Atlanta, Georgia, United States
- Department of Pediatrics, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia, United States
| | - Frauke Degenhardt
- Institute of Clinical Molecular Biology, Christian-Albrechts-University, Kiel, Germany
| | - Joseph Conway
- Northeast Georgia Medical Center, Gainesville, Georgia, United States
| | - Michael C. Horwath
- Department of Pathology, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia, United States
| | - Courtney McCracken
- Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, Atlanta, Georgia, United States
- Department of Pediatrics, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia, United States
| | - Adam J. Sorscher
- Dartmouth University School of Medicine, Hanover, New Hampshire, United States
| | - Sandy Moreau
- Elliot Hospital, Manchester, New Hampshire, United States
| | | | - Carolina Edwards
- Northeast Georgia Medical Center, Gainesville, Georgia, United States
| | - Jo Brewer
- Northeast Georgia Medical Center, Gainesville, Georgia, United States
| | | | - Emmie de Wit
- Laboratory of Virology, Division of Intramural Research, NIAID, National Institutes of Health, Hamilton, Montana, United States
| | - Brandi N. Williamson
- Laboratory of Virology, Division of Intramural Research, NIAID, National Institutes of Health, Hamilton, Montana, United States
| | - Mehul S. Suthar
- Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, Atlanta, Georgia, United States
- Department of Pediatrics, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia, United States
| | - Yee T. Ong
- Laboratory of Biochemical Pharmacology, Department of Pediatrics, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia, United States
- Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, Atlanta, Georgia, United States
| | - John D. Roback
- Department of Pathology, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia, United States
| | - David N. Alter
- Department of Pathology, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia, United States
| | - Jan C. Holter
- Department of Microbiology, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway
- Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
| | - Tom H. Karlsen
- Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
- Research Institute for Internal Medicine, Division of Surgery, Inflammatory Diseases and Transplantation, Oslo University Hospital Rikshospitalet and University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
- Norwegian PSC Research Center, Department of Transplantation Medicine, Division of Surgery, Inflammatory Diseases and Transplantation, Oslo University Hospital Rikshospitalet, Oslo, Norway
- Section for Gastroenterology, Department of Transplantation Medicine, Division for Cancer Medicine, Surgery and Transplantation, Oslo University Hospital Rikshospitalet, Oslo, Norway
| | | | - Manuel Romero-Gómez
- Hospital Universitario Virgen del Rocío de Sevilla, Sevilla, Spain
- Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red en Enfermedades Hepáticas y Digestivas (CIBEREHD), Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII), Madrid, Spain
- Instituto de Biomedicina de Sevilla (IBIS), Sevilla, Spain
- University of Sevilla, Sevilla, Spain
- Digestive Diseases Unit, Virgen del Rocio University Hospital, Institute of Biomedicine of Seville, University of Seville, Seville, Spain
| | - Pietro Invernizzi
- European Reference Network on Hepatological Diseases (ERN RARE-LIVER), Fondazione IRCCS San Gerardo dei Tintori, Monza, Italy
- Division of Gastroenterology, Center for Autoimmune Liver Diseases, Department of Medicine and Surgery, University of Milano-Bicocca, Monza, Italy
| | - Javier Fernández
- Hospital Clinic, University of Barcelona, and IDIBAPS, Barcelona, Spain
- European Foundation for the Study of Chronic Liver Failure (EF-CLIF), Barcelona, Spain
| | - Maria Buti
- Liver Unit. Hospital Universitario Valle Hebron and CIBEREHD del Instituto Carlos III. Barcelona, Spain
| | - Agustin Albillos
- Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red en Enfermedades Hepáticas y Digestivas (CIBEREHD), Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII), Madrid, Spain
- Department of Gastroenterology, Hospital Universitario Ramón y Cajal, University of Alcalá, Instituto Ramón y Cajal de Investigación Sanitaria (IRYCIS), Madrid, Spain
| | - Antonio Julià
- Vall d’Hebron Institut de Recerca (VHIR), Vall d’Hebron Hospital Universitari, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Luca Valenti
- Department of Pathophysiology and Transplantation, Università degli Studi di Milano, Milan, Italy
- Biological Resorce Center, Fondazione IRCCS Ca’ Granda Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico Milano, Milan Italy
| | - Rosanna Asselta
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, Humanitas University, Pieve Emanuele, Milan, Italy
- IRCCS Humanitas Research Hospital, Rozzano, Milan, Italy
| | - Jesus M. Banales
- Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red en Enfermedades Hepáticas y Digestivas (CIBEREHD), Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII), Madrid, Spain
- Department of Liver and Gastrointestinal Diseases, Biodonostia Health Research Institute – Donostia University Hospital, University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), CIBERehd, Ikerbasque, San Sebastian, Spain
- Ikerbasque, Basque Foundation for Science, Bilbao, Spain
| | - Luis Bujanda
- Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red en Enfermedades Hepáticas y Digestivas (CIBEREHD), Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII), Madrid, Spain
- Department of Liver and Gastrointestinal Diseases, Biodonostia Health Research Institute – Donostia University Hospital, University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), CIBERehd, Ikerbasque, San Sebastian, Spain
| | - Rafael de Cid
- Genomes for Life-GCAT lab. German Trias I Pujol Research Institute (IGTP), Badalona, Spain
| | | | - Stefan G. Sarafianos
- Laboratory of Biochemical Pharmacology, Department of Pediatrics, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia, United States
- Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, Atlanta, Georgia, United States
| | - Jeong S. Hong
- Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, Atlanta, Georgia, United States
- Department of Pediatrics, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia, United States
| | - Eric J. Sorscher
- Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, Atlanta, Georgia, United States
- Department of Pediatrics, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia, United States
| | - Annette Ehrhardt
- Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, Atlanta, Georgia, United States
- Department of Pediatrics, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia, United States
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