Volume 30, No 10, Oct 2020

ISSN: 1001-0602 
EISSN: 1748-7838 2018 
impact factor 17.848* 
(Clarivate Analytics, 2019)

Volume 30 Issue 10, October 2020: 928-931   |  Open Access

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

SARS-CoV-2 infects human neural progenitor cells and brain organoids

Bao-Zhong Zhang^1,2 , Hin Chu^3,* , Shuo Han¹ , Huiping Shuai³ , Jian Deng¹ , Ye-fan Hu^1,4 , Hua-rui Gong¹ , Andrew Chak-Yiu Lee³ , Zijiao Zou³ , Thomas Yau⁴ , Wutian Wu^1,5,6 , Ivan Fan-Ngai Hung⁴ , Jasper Fuk-Woo Chan^3,7 , Kwok-Yung Yuen^3,7,* , Jian-Dong Huang^1,2,*

¹School of Biomedical Sciences, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, 3/F, Laboratory Block, 21 Sassoon Road, Pokfulam, Hong Kong, China
²CAS Key Laboratory of Quantitative Engineering Biology, Shenzhen Institute of Synthetic Biology, Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen, Guangdong 518055, China
³Department of Microbiology, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong, China
⁴Department of Medicine, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong, China
⁵Guangdong-Hongkong-Macau Institute of CNS Regeneration (GHMICR), Jinan University, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510632, China
⁶Re-Stem Biotech, Suzhou, Jiangsu 330520, China
⁷State Key Laboratory of Emerging Infectious Diseases, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong, China
These authors contributed equally: Bao-Zhong Zhang, Hin Chu, Shuo Han, Huiping Shuai Correspondence: Hin Chu(hinchu@hku.hk)Kwok-Yung Yuen(kyyuen@hkucc.hku.hk)Jian-Dong Huang(jdhuang@hku.hk)

Dear Editor,

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by the novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)1 has resulted in over 13 million confirmed cases and more than 580,045 deaths across 218 countries and geographical regions as of July 16, 2020. This novel coronavirus primarily causes respiratory illness with clinical manifestations largely resembling those of SARS. However, neurological symptoms including headache, anosmia, ageusia, confusion, seizure, and encephalopathy have also been frequently reported in COVID-19 patients.2,3 In a study of 214 hospitalized COVID-19 patients in Wuhan, China, neurologic findings were reported in 36.4% of patients, and were more commonly observed in patients with severe infections (45.5%).2 Similarly, a study from France reported neurologic findings in 84.5% (49/58) of COVID-19 patients admitted to hospital.3 Importantly, a recent study in Germany demonstrated that SARS-CoV-2 RNA could be detected in brain biopsies in 36.4% (8/22) of fatal COVID-19 cases,4 which highlights the potential for viral infections in the human brain. To date, there has been no direct experimental evidence of SARS-CoV-2 infection in the human central nervous system (CNS). We recently demonstrated that SARS-CoV-2 could infect and replicate in cells of neuronal origin.5 In line with this finding, we showed that SARS-CoV-2 could infect and damage the olfactory sensory neurons of hamsters.6 In addition, angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2), the entry receptor of SARS-CoV-2, is widely detected in the brain and is highly concentrated in a number of locations including substantia nigra, middle temporal gyrus, and posterior cingulate cortex.7 Together, these findings suggest that the human brain might be an extra-pulmonary target of SARS-CoV-2 infection.

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41422-020-0390-x

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