Bronchial organoids and drug discovery applications advance Covid-19 research

Image source: Kyoto University

News • Infectious disease screening

Bronchial organoids and drug discovery applications advance Covid-19 research

A research group group from Kyoto University, led by Dr. Kazuo Takayama, developed two in vitro models to study SARS-CoV-2, a bronchial organoids model (BO) and a BO-derived air-liquid interface model (BO-ALI), and showed that they can be used for drug screening for infectious diseases including Covid-19.

An in vitro lung model that faithfully reproduces the human respiratory organ is essential for conducting Covid-19 drug screening. BO and alveolar organoids are excellent tools for faithfully mimicking the human respiratory organ and are expected to be applied to Covid-19 research. The results of this study were published online in Communications Biology

In this study, the research team developed two human bronchial models, BO and BO-ALI. SARS-CoV-2 infection experiments confirmed that the infection efficiency in BO-ALI was more than 2,000 times higher than that in BO. The researchers confirmed the anti-viral effect of therapeutic agents such as remdesivir, molnupiravir, and camostat, using BO-ALI. Comparative analyses of eight SARS-CoV-2 variants, including the omicron strain, showed that the infection efficiency in BO-ALI of the Omicron was slightly lower than those of the other variants. 

Next, in attempting to identify the cells that SARS-CoV-2 infects, the researchers found that the virus efficiently infects ciliated cells but rarely infects basal cells. They also discovered that nearly all ciliated cells died subsequently whereas basal cells survived and differentiated into bronchial epithelial cells, including ciliated cells. The regenerative capacity of basal cells was dependent on fibroblast growth factor 10 (FGF10). 

These findings suggest that BO-ALI produced from BO can be used to evaluate Covid-19 therapeutics, analyze SARS-CoV-2 variants, and study bronchial tissue regeneration. 


Source: Kyoto University

06.06.2022

Related articles

Photo

News • Microfluidics and electrochemical transduction

Paper-based device for rapid diagnosis of lung diseases

A new device that combines microfluidics on paper, electrochemical transduction and immunoassays on magnetic nanoparticles is useful for easy and rapid diagnosis of lung diseases.

Photo

News • Coronavirus mechanism discovered

Organ-on-a-chip reveals how SARS-CoV-2 invades blood vessels

A research group has revealed that SARS-CoV-2 disrupts the vascular endothelial barrier by suppressing the expression of Claudin-5 (CLDN5) to invade the blood vessels.

Photo

News • Deep mutational scanning for SARS-CoV-2

Preparing rapid tests for future coronavirus variants

How can rapid antigen tests be adjusted to reliably detect future variants of SARS-CoV-2? A research team funded by the National Institutes of Health is currently working on finding an answer.

Related products

Subscribe to Newsletter