Coronavirus activates a stem cell-mediated defense mechanism that reactivates dormant tuberculosis: implications in COVID-19 pandemic

We postulate that similar to bacteria, adult stem cells may also exhibit an innate defense mechanism to protect their niche. Here, we provide preliminary data on stem cell based innate defense against a mouse model of coronavirus, murine hepatitis virus-1 (MHV-1) infection. In a mouse model of mesen...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:bioRxiv 2020-06
Main Authors: Pathak, Lekhika, Gayan, Sukanya, Pal, Bidisha, Talukdar, Joyeeta, Bhuyan, Seema, Sorra Sandhya, Yeger, Herman, Baishya, Debabrat, Das, Bikul
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Alveoli
Antiviral agents
Coronaviridae
Coronaviruses
COVID-19
Defense mechanisms
Dormancy
Epithelial cells
Hepatitis
Mesenchyme
Microbiology
Pandemics
Phenotypes
Stem cell transplantation
Stem cells
Toxicity
Transcription activation
Tuberculosis
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Summary:We postulate that similar to bacteria, adult stem cells may also exhibit an innate defense mechanism to protect their niche. Here, we provide preliminary data on stem cell based innate defense against a mouse model of coronavirus, murine hepatitis virus-1 (MHV-1) infection. In a mouse model of mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) mediated Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) dormancy, MHV-1 infection in the lung exhibited 20 fold lower viral loads than the healthy control mice, suggesting the potential enhancement of an anti-MHV-1 defense by Mtb. This defense mechanism involves the in vivo expansion and reprogramming of CD271+MSCs in the lung to an enhanced stemness phenotype. The reprogrammed MSCs facilitate the activation of stemness genes, intracellular Mtb replication, and extracellular release of Mtb. The conditioned media of the reprogrammed MSCs exhibit direct anti-viral activity in an in vitro model of MHV-1 induced toxicity to type II alveolar epithelial cells. Thus, our data suggest that reprogrammed MSCs exert a unique innate defense against MHV-1 by activating dormant Mtb. The molecular details of this anti-viral defense mechanism against coronavirus could be further studied to develop a vaccine against COVID-19. Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest. Footnotes * In the revised version,we did the following changes: 1. The summary is shortened. 2. Included few of the missing references in the discussion part.
ISSN:2692-8205
DOI:10.1101/2020.05.06.077883