Vassilis G. Gorgoulis and collaborators published a research article in the European Respiratory Journal

The authors demonstrate that in patients with severe COVID19, alveolar type II (AT2) cells that are infected with SARS-CoV-2 undergo senescence accompanied also by an inflammatory phenotype. In vitro recapitulation of SARS-CoV-2 infection in two-dimensional (2D) cellular systems and in a three-dimensional alveosphere system derived from alveolar type 2 (AT2) cells, also induced senescence and inflammation. Importantly, infected cells can act as a source of mutagenesis for SARS-CoV-2, since they exhibit increased levels of the APOBEC deaminating enzymes, which can mediate viral mutations. Overall these findings support that SARS-CoV-2 induced senescence may be an important driver of COVID19 severity, disease persistence and the emergence of new viral strains. Finally, SARS-CoV-2-induced senescence may justify the implementation of senotherapeutics for the treatment of COVID-19 patients and possibly for long-COVID syndrome.

pubmed

Pulmonary infection by SARS-CoV-2 induces senescence accompanied by an inflammatory phenotype in severe COVID-19: possible implications for viral mutagenesis
Evangelou K, Veroutis D, Paschalaki K, Foukas PG, Lagopati N, Dimitriou M, Papaspyropoulos A, Konda B, Hazapis O, Polyzou A, Havaki S, Kotsinas A, Kittas C, Tzioufas AG, de Leval L, Vassilakos D, Tsiodras S, Stripp BR, Papantonis A, Blandino G, Karakasiliotis I, Barnes PJ, Gorgoulis VG.Eur Respir J. 2022 Jan 27:2102951. doi: 10.1183/13993003.02951-2021. Online ahead of print. PMID: 35086840