New stem cell technology research reveals that SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, not only infects the lungs but can also infect brain and heart cells.
In lab experiments, researchers found that the virus infects heart cells by attaching itself to ACE2, the enzyme it uses to invade human cells. It not only infected the heart cells, it killed them in 72 hours.
Co-author Clive Svendsen, professor of medicine and biomedical sciences at Cedars-Sinai, said in a news release:
“While this could be the result of massive inflammation in response to the virus, our data suggest that the heart could also be directly affected by the virus in COVID-19.”
In a separate experiment, researchers found that the virus entered brain cells created in the lab, by again, attaching itself to ACE2 enzymes found in neurons. According to Newsweek Health, the study represented the “first clear evidence” that SARS-CoV-2 can infect neurons.
Both studies showed that while heart problems and neurological complications were thought to be the result of the body’s response to infection in severe COVID-19 cases, the virus itself may be wreaking havoc with heart and brain tissue.
“This means, that at least theoretically, some of the neurological manifestations of COVID-19 can be caused by direct invasion of the brain cells by the virus,” professor Cris S. Constantinescu of the Division of Clinical Neuroscience at the U.K.’s University of Nottingham Queen’s Medical Centre told Newsweek.