A recent report on covid-19 indicated that the coronavirus has possibility of infecting the heart of patients. Although at the critical stage of the infection on patients, they began to develop difficulty in breathing which may result in the use of ventilators to support breathing.
The new study shows that human stem cell-derived heart cells infected by SARS-CoV-2 change gene expression profile which further confirmed that cells can be actively infected by the virus and “activate innate cellular defense mechanisms in an effort to help clear out the virus,” the report noted.
The study used human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells (IPSCs), a type of stem cell that is created in the lab from a person’s blood or skin cells. IPSCs can make any cell type found in the body, each one carrying the DNA of the individual. Tissue-specific cells created in this way are used for research and for creating and testing potential disease treatments.
According to the researchers, the report confirmed that the virus directly infects the individuals muscle cells of the heart which may be the source of heart problems experienced by covid-19 patients. This also takes into cognizance pre-existing cardiac conditions or inflammation and oxygen deprivation that result from the infection.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), the virus has claimed over 500 thousand deaths in 216 countries and territories while over 10 million cases have been confirmed. Experts have prior to this study said that people with certain underlying medical conditions are at increased risk for severe illness from covid-19.
One of the authors of the research, Dr. Arun Sharma, of the Cedars-Sinai Board of Governors Regenerative Medicine Institute said infected cells showed changes in their ability to beat after 72 hours of infection. He explained further that, “We have only uncovered that these stem cell-derived heart cells are susceptible to infection by novel coronavirus, but the virus can also quickly divide within the heart muscle cells.”
The research which was conducted using heart muscle cells that were produced by stem cell technology may not be a perfect replicate of what is happening in the human body but Clive Svendsen, another co-author of the research noted that the revelation may help investigators use stem cell-derived heart cells as a screening platform to identify new antiviral compounds that could alleviate viral infection of the heart.
“The viral pandemic is predominantly defined by respiratory symptoms, but there are also cardiac complications, including arrhythmias, heart failure and viral myocarditis. While this could be the result of massive inflammation in response to the virus, our data suggest that the heart could be directly affected by the virus in COVID-19,”Scendsen said.
For Eduardo Marban, the Executive Director of Smidt Heart Institute, who was part of the study, he concluded that it is plausible that direct infection of cardiac muscle cells may contribute to COVID-19 related heart disease.”
