SARS-CoV-2 infects and replicates in cells of the human pancreas

Viral infections may trigger diabetes. Clinical data suggest infection with the pandemic severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), causing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), may impact glucose homeostasis in patients. Notably, cases of new-onset diabetes upon SARS-CoV-2 infection have been reported. However, experimental evidence of pancreatic infection is still controversial. Here, we employ cadaveric human pancreatic islets, as well as pancreatic tissue from deceased COVID-19 patients to investigate the impact of SARS-CoV-2 on the pancreas. We show that human β-cells express viral entry proteins ACE2 and TMPRSS2, making them susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 infection and replication. Our data further demonstrates that SARS-CoV-2 infects and replicates in ex vivo cultured human islets and infection. This infection is associated with morphological, transcriptional and functional changes, such as reduction of insulin-secretory granules in β-cells and impaired glucose-stimulated insulin secretion. In COVID-19 post-mortem examinations, we detected SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid protein in pancreatic exocrine cells, and in cells that stain positive for the β-cell marker NKX6.1 in all patients investigated. Taken together, our data define the human pancreas as a target of SARS-CoV-2 infection and suggest that β-cell infection might contribute to the metabolic dysregulation observed in patients with COVID-19.

Publication History

Article published online:
07 September 2021