Lung Inflammasome Activation in SARS-CoV-2 Post-Mortem Biopsies

oleh: Lucas Baena Carstens, Raissa Campos D’amico, Karen Fernandes de Moura, Eduardo Morais de Castro, Flávia Centenaro, Giovanna Silva Barbosa, Guilherme Vieira Cavalcante da Silva, Isadora Brenny, Júlio César Honório D’Agostini, Elisa Carolina Hlatchuk, Sabrina Pissette de Lima, Ana Paula Camargo Martins, Marina De Castro Deus, Carolline Konzen Klein, Ana Paula Kubaski Benevides, Seigo Nagashima, Cleber Machado-Souza, Ricardo A Pinho, Cristina Pellegrino Baena, Lúcia de Noronha

Format: Article
Diterbitkan: MDPI AG 2022-10-01

Deskripsi

The inflammasome complex is a key part of chronic diseases and acute infections, being responsible for cytokine release and cell death mechanism regulation. The SARS-CoV-2 infection is characterized by a dysregulated cytokine release. In this context, the inflammasome complex analysis within SARS-CoV-2 infection may prove beneficial to understand the disease’s mechanisms. Post-mortem minimally invasive autopsies were performed in patients who died from COVID-19 (<i>n</i> = 24), and lung samples were compared to a patient control group (<i>n</i> = 11) and an Influenza A virus H1N1 subtype group from the 2009 pandemics (<i>n</i> = 10). Histological analysis was performed using hematoxylin-eosin staining. Immunohistochemical (IHC) staining was performed using monoclonal antibodies against targets: ACE2, TLR4, NF-κB, NLRP-3 (or NALP), IL-1β, IL-18, ASC, CASP1, CASP9, GSDMD, NOX4, TNF-α. Data obtained from digital analysis underwent appropriate statistical tests. IHC analysis showed biomarkers that indicate inflammasome activation (ACE2; NF-κB; NOX4; ASC) were significantly increased in the COVID-19 group (<i>p</i> < 0.05 for all) and biomarkers that indicate cell pyroptosis and inflammasome derived cytokines such as IL-18 (<i>p</i> < 0.005) and CASP1 were greatly increased (<i>p</i> < 0.0001) even when compared to the H1N1 group. We propose that the SARS-CoV-2 pathogenesis is connected to the inflammasome complex activation. Further studies are still warranted to elucidate the pathophysiology of the disease.