Preprint: Tunneling nanotubes provide a route for SARS-CoV-2 spreading
“Here, we investigated the neuroinvasive potential of SARS-CoV-2 and asked whether tunneling nanotubes (TNTs) could be involved in its intercellular spreading.”
TNTs are thin, membranous conduits rich in actin that allow the direct transport of cargos including organelles, amyloid proteins, and viral particles between distant cells. We hypothesized that SARS-CoV-2 could use TNTs to spread from permissive cells to less-permissive cells that lack the membrane receptor for virus entry, thus allowing the spreading of viral pathogenicity and escaping from immune surveillance.”
By using confocal microscopy and establishing in cellulo cryo-CLEM and cryo-ET, we demonstrate that SH-SY5Y human neuronal cells, not permissive to SARS-CoV-2, can be infected through a TNT-mediated mechanism when cocultured with infected Vero E6–permissive epithelial cells.
Preprint: Tunneling nanotubes provide a route for SARS-CoV-2 spreading