TY - JOUR
T1 - Golden Syrian Hamsters as a Model for Revisiting the Role of Biological Sex Differences in SARS-CoV-2 Infection
AU - Michita, Rafael Tomoya
AU - Mysorekar, Indira U.
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was funded in part by NIH/NICHD grant R01 HD091218 and 3R01HD091218-04S1(RADx-UP supplement) (to I.U.M.). We thank Dr. Robert Lawrence for helpful comments. IUM serves on the Scientific Advisory Board of Luca Biologics. No other conflicts of interest exist.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
PY - 2021/12/1
Y1 - 2021/12/1
N2 - There is growing evidence that coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) affects males more severely than females, including compelling evidence indicating that biological sex is an important clinical factor influencing disease pathology and outcomes. In their recent article in mBio, S. Dhakal, C. A. Ruiz-Bedoya, R. Zhou, P. S. Creisher, et al. (mBio 12:e00974-21, 2021, https://doi.org/10.1128/mBio.00974-21) find further evidence to support this hypothesis as they interrogate biological sex differences in the pathogenesis and clinical features of COVID-19 in the golden Syrian hamster model. Their study probes SARS-CoV-2 infection in terms of loss of body mass, recovery, lung compromise, viral replication, inflammatory response, immune response, and, most importantly, the role of estrogen. They also demonstrate the value of a novel unbiased, quantitative chest computed tomography (CT) imaging approach. The golden Syrian hamster model holds a promising opportunity to further investigate how biological sex acts as a primary determinant in SARS-CoV-2 pathogenesis, as also demonstrated in this study.
AB - There is growing evidence that coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) affects males more severely than females, including compelling evidence indicating that biological sex is an important clinical factor influencing disease pathology and outcomes. In their recent article in mBio, S. Dhakal, C. A. Ruiz-Bedoya, R. Zhou, P. S. Creisher, et al. (mBio 12:e00974-21, 2021, https://doi.org/10.1128/mBio.00974-21) find further evidence to support this hypothesis as they interrogate biological sex differences in the pathogenesis and clinical features of COVID-19 in the golden Syrian hamster model. Their study probes SARS-CoV-2 infection in terms of loss of body mass, recovery, lung compromise, viral replication, inflammatory response, immune response, and, most importantly, the role of estrogen. They also demonstrate the value of a novel unbiased, quantitative chest computed tomography (CT) imaging approach. The golden Syrian hamster model holds a promising opportunity to further investigate how biological sex acts as a primary determinant in SARS-CoV-2 pathogenesis, as also demonstrated in this study.
KW - COVID-19
KW - Lung infection
KW - SARS-CoV-2
KW - Sex difference
KW - Syrian hamster
KW - Viral infections
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85121984631&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1128/mBio.01848-21
DO - 10.1128/mBio.01848-21
M3 - Review article
C2 - 34809458
AN - SCOPUS:85121984631
SN - 2161-2129
VL - 12
JO - mBio
JF - mBio
IS - 6
M1 - e01848-21
ER -