Neurotropic viruses, astrocytes, and COVID-19

Tavčar Verdev, Petra (author), Potokar, Maja (author), Kolenc, Marko (author), Korva, Miša (author), Avšič-Županc, Tatjana (author), Zorec, Robert (author), Jorgačevski, Jernej (author)

At the end of 2019, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV- 2) was discovered in China, causing a new coronavirus disease, termed COVID-19 by the WHO on February 11, 2020. At the time of this paper (January 31, 2021), more than 100 million cases have been recorded, which have claimed over 2 million lives worldwide. The most important clinical presentation of COVID-19 is severe pneumonia; however, many patients present various neurological symptoms, ranging from loss of olfaction, nausea, dizziness, and headache to encephalopathy and stroke, with a high prevalence of inflammatory central nervous system (CNS) syndromes. SARS-CoV-2 may also target the respiratory center in the brainstem and cause silent hypoxemia. However, the neurotropic mechanism(s) by which SARS-CoV-2 affects the CNS remain(s) unclear. In this paper, we first address the involvement of astrocytes in COVID-19 and then elucidate the present knowledge on SARS-CoV-2 as a neurotropic virus as well as several other neurotropic flaviviruses (with a particular emphasis on the West Nile virus, tick-borne encephalitis virus, and Zika virus) to highlight the neurotropic mechanisms that target astroglial cells in the CNS. These key homeostasis-providing cells in the CNS exhibit many functions that act as a favorable milieu for virus replication and possibly a favorable environment for SARS-CoV-2 as well. The role of astrocytes in COVID- 19 pathology, related to aging and neurodegenerative disorders, and environmental factors, is discussed. Understanding these mechanisms is key to better understanding the pathophysiology of COVID-19 and for developing new strategies to mitigate the neurotropic manifestations of COVID-19.

• Language: English
• Keywords: neurotropic virus, flavivirus, COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, neuroinfection, astrocyte
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.02 - Review Article
• Organization: MF - Faculty of Medicine
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2021
• Number of pages: 14 str.
• Numbering: Vol. 15, art. 662578
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-144668
• UDC: 616.9
• ISSN on article: 1662-5102
• DOI: 10.3389/fncel.2021.662578
• COBISS.SI-ID: 58875651
• Publication date in RUL: 07.03.2023

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Frontiers in cellular neuroscience
• Shortened title: Front. cell. neurosci.
• Publisher: Frontiers Media
• ISSN: 1662-5102
• COBISS.SI-ID: 30660825

Licences

• License: CC BY 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Description: This is the standard Creative Commons license that gives others maximum freedom to do what they want with the work as long as they credit the author.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Keywords: nevrotropni virus, flavivirus, COVID-19