ACTION OF INFLAMMATORY MEDIATORS ON EXOSOMES RESULTING FROM SARS-COV-2 INFECTION IN ADIPOCYTE LINEAGES

• Grant number: 22/16203-7
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: January 01, 2023
• End date: December 31, 2023
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Biochemistry - Molecular Biology
• Principal Investigator: Marilia Cerqueira Leite Seelaender
• Grantee: Ana Beatriz Marques Abel
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Medicina (FM). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The intense study of a new virus of the betacoronavirus family, SARS-CoV-2, started from the COVID-19 pandemic, due to its high transmission and deaths caused by the infection, this virus was associated with MERS-CoV and SARS-CoV, a virus already seen in the literature. SARS-CoV-2 is a simple RNA virus, and encodes non-structural and structural proteins. Among the structural proteins of the virus, the membrane Protein S is linked to viral entry into the cell, because it interacts with the angiotensin-converter enzyme 2 (ECA2), which is expressed in several tissues, including adipose tissue. Adipocytes are involved in several functions, such as the secretion of factors in inflammation. The increase in adipose tissue is one of the characteristics presented by obese individuals, who are at higher risk of developing the severe form of COVID-19. Thus, increased secretion of inflammatory factors by adipose tissue may be involved with the severity of SARS-CoV-2 infection. Extracellular vesicles act in communication between cells and tissues, and may carry inflammatory mediators. Our group verified differences in the content of plasma extracellular cytokines of patients who were hospitalized at the Hospital das Clínicas of the University of São Paulo (March to July 2020) and died by COVID-19 when compared to patients who were hospitalized by COVID-19, in the same period and place, and recovered. Thus, this project aims to evaluate the effects of these extracellular plasma vesicles of these two groups of patients with COVID-19 on the secretion of cytokines by human adipocytes. For this, human pre-adipocytes will be cultured and differentiated and then exposed to the culture medium containing these vesicles. In addition to the secretion of cytokines to the culture medium, the expression of inflammatory genes by these adipocytes will be measured.