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Morphological and Immunopathological Aspects of Lingual Tissues in COVID-19

COVID-19, a recently emerged disease caused by SARS-CoV-2 infection, can present with different degrees of severity and a large variety of signs and symptoms. The oral manifestations of COVID-19 often involve the tongue, with loss of taste being one of the most common symptoms of the disease. This s...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Henin, Dolaji, Pellegrini, Gaia, Carmagnola, Daniela, Lanza Attisano, Giuseppe Carlo, Lopez, Gianluca, Ferrero, Stefano, Amendola, Antonella, De Angelis, Danilo, Tanzi, Elisabetta, Dellavia, Claudia
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8997468/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35406811
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/cells11071248
Descripción
Sumario:COVID-19, a recently emerged disease caused by SARS-CoV-2 infection, can present with different degrees of severity and a large variety of signs and symptoms. The oral manifestations of COVID-19 often involve the tongue, with loss of taste being one of the most common symptoms of the disease. This study aimed to detect SARS-CoV-2 RNA and assess possible morphological and immunopathological alterations in the lingual tissue of patients who died with a history of SARS-CoV-2 infection. Sixteen cadavers from 8 SARS-CoV-2 positive (COVID-19+) and 8 negative (COVID-19−) subjects provided 16 tongues, that were biopsied. Samples underwent molecular analysis through Real-Time RT-PCR for the detection of SARS-CoV-2 RNA. Lingual papillae were harvested and processed for histological analysis and for immunohistochemical evaluation for ACE2, IFN-γ and factor VIII. Real-Time RT-PCR revealed the presence of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in filiform, foliate, and circumvallate papillae in 6 out of 8 COVID-19+ subjects while all COVID-19− samples resulted negative. Histology showed a severe inflammation of COVID-19+ papillae with destruction of the taste buds. ACE2 and IFN-γ resulted downregulated in COVID-19+ and no differences were evidenced for factor VIII between the two groups. The virus was detectable in most COVID-19+ tongues. An inflammatory damage to the lingual papillae, putatively mediated by ACE2 and IFN-γ in tongues from COVID-19+ cadavers, was observed. Further investigations are needed to confirm these findings and deepen the association between taste disorders and inflammation in SARS-CoV-2 infection.