Z Gastroenterol 2021; 59(08): e307
DOI: 10.1055/s-0041-1734133
COVID
Mittwoch, 15. September 2021, 12:00-13:28 Uhr, After-Work-Stream: Kanal 2
Dünndarm, Dickdarm und Proktologie

Human small intestinal infection by SARS-CoV-2 is characterized by a mucosal infiltration with activated CD8+ T cells

M Lehmann
1   Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and Berlin Institute of Health, Campus Benjamin Franklin, Medical Department, Division of Gastroenterology, Infectiology and Rheumatology, Berlin, Deutschland
,
K Allers
1   Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and Berlin Institute of Health, Campus Benjamin Franklin, Medical Department, Division of Gastroenterology, Infectiology and Rheumatology, Berlin, Deutschland
,
C Heldt
1   Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and Berlin Institute of Health, Campus Benjamin Franklin, Medical Department, Division of Gastroenterology, Infectiology and Rheumatology, Berlin, Deutschland
,
F Schmidt
2   Berlin Institute of Health (BIH), Flow & Mass Cytometry Core Facility, Berlin, Deutschland
,
Y Rodriguez-Sillke
1   Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and Berlin Institute of Health, Campus Benjamin Franklin, Medical Department, Division of Gastroenterology, Infectiology and Rheumatology, Berlin, Deutschland
2   Berlin Institute of Health (BIH), Flow & Mass Cytometry Core Facility, Berlin, Deutschland
,
D Kunkel
2   Berlin Institute of Health (BIH), Flow & Mass Cytometry Core Facility, Berlin, Deutschland
,
M Schumann
1   Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and Berlin Institute of Health, Campus Benjamin Franklin, Medical Department, Division of Gastroenterology, Infectiology and Rheumatology, Berlin, Deutschland
,
C Böttcher
3   Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and Berlin Institute of Health, Klinik für Psychiatrie und Psychotherapie, Berlin, Deutschland
,
S Elezkurtaj
4   Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and Berlin Institute of Health, Institute of Pathology, Berlin, Deutschland
,
C Bojarski
1   Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and Berlin Institute of Health, Campus Benjamin Franklin, Medical Department, Division of Gastroenterology, Infectiology and Rheumatology, Berlin, Deutschland
,
VM Corman
5   Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and Berlin Institute of Health, Department of Virology and German Centre for Infection Research, Berlin, Deutschland
,
T Schneider
1   Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and Berlin Institute of Health, Campus Benjamin Franklin, Medical Department, Division of Gastroenterology, Infectiology and Rheumatology, Berlin, Deutschland
,
C Loddenkemper
6   Gemeinschaftspraxis für Pathologie und Neuropathologie, PathoTres, Berlin, Deutschland
,
V Moos
1   Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and Berlin Institute of Health, Campus Benjamin Franklin, Medical Department, Division of Gastroenterology, Infectiology and Rheumatology, Berlin, Deutschland
,
C Weidinger
1   Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and Berlin Institute of Health, Campus Benjamin Franklin, Medical Department, Division of Gastroenterology, Infectiology and Rheumatology, Berlin, Deutschland
,
A Kühl
1   Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and Berlin Institute of Health, Campus Benjamin Franklin, Medical Department, Division of Gastroenterology, Infectiology and Rheumatology, Berlin, Deutschland
7   harité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and Berlin Institute of Health, Campus Benjamin Franklin, iPATH, Berlin, Deutschland
,
B Siegmund
1   Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and Berlin Institute of Health, Campus Benjamin Franklin, Medical Department, Division of Gastroenterology, Infectiology and Rheumatology, Berlin, Deutschland
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    The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has so far claimed close to three million lives worldwide. Though the SARS-CoV-2 mediated disease COVID-19 has first been characterized by an infection of the upper airways and the lung, recent evidence suggests a complex disease including gastrointestinal symptoms. Even if a direct viral tropism of intestinal cells has recently been demonstrated, it remains unclear, whether gastrointestinal symptoms are caused by a direct infection of the gastrointestinal tract by SARS-CoV-2 or whether they are a consequence of a systemic immune activation and subsequent modulation of the mucosal immune system. To better understand the cause of intestinal symptoms of patients suffering from COVID-19 we here analyzed biopsies of the small intestine obtained from SARS-CoV-2 infected individuals. Applying qRT-PCR, imaging mass cytometry and immunohistochemistry, we detected SARS-CoV-2 RNA in duodenal mucosa. In addition, we identified histomorphological changes of the epithelium, which were characterized by an accumulation of activated intraepithelial CD8+ T cells as well as epithelial apoptosis and subsequent regenerative proliferation in the small intestine of COVID-19 patients. In summary, our findings indicate that intraepithelial CD8+ T cells are activated upon infection of intestinal epithelial cells with SARS-CoV-2, hence providing an explanation for gastrointestinal symptoms associated with COVID-19.


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    Publication History

    Article published online:
    07 September 2021

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