134 Scopus citations

Abstract

There is ongoing debate as to whether cardiac complications of coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) result from myocardial viral infection or are secondary to systemic inflammation and/or thrombosis. We provide evidence that cardiomyocytes are infected in patients with COVID-19 myocarditis and are susceptible to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. We establish an engineered heart tissue model of COVID-19 myocardial pathology, define mechanisms of viral pathogenesis, and demonstrate that cardiomyocyte severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infection results in contractile deficits, cytokine production, sarcomere disassembly, and cell death. These findings implicate direct infection of cardiomyocytes in the pathogenesis of COVID-19 myocardial pathology and provides a model system to study this emerging disease.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)331-345
Number of pages15
JournalJACC: Basic to Translational Science
Volume6
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - Apr 2021

Keywords

  • cardiomyocyte
  • coronavirus disease 2019
  • engineered heart tissue
  • myocarditis
  • severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2

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