Contributors
Benjamin tenOever, New York University, From your nose to your toes: SARS-CoV-2-mediated systemic inflammation in the absence of viremia.
Institution/ Affiliation
Benjamin tenOever, New York University.
Presentation Details (date, conference, etc.)
March 10, 2022, IMAG/MSM WG on Multiscale Modeling and Viral Pandemics
- Benjamin tenOever, NYU, From your nose to your toes: SARS-CoV-2-mediated systemic inflammation in the absence of viremia. Virus infections can result in inflammation that far exceeds the pathogen’s natural tropism as evident by the heterogeneity of diseases that cause mortality following SARS-CoV-2 infection. To understand this dynamic, we characterized the systemic longitudinal response to SARS-CoV-2 in the golden hamster. We find that while infectious virus is largely restricted to the airways, a strong inflammatory response is evident in the lung, olfactory bulb, kidney, spleen, liver, pancreas, heart, lung, intestines, and most areas of the brain. While no viremia could be detected, profiling circulating immune cells indicate that distal immune priming is a product of circulating “viral debris’. We postulate that the magnitude and duration of this host response to SARS-CoV-2 reflects the unique life cycles of this virus family. The lecture will end with some suggestions where modeling may address some of the remaining unknowns as it relates to COVID-19 biology. YouTube and Slides.