ArticleCommunications medicine2021
Direct SARS-CoV-2 infection of the human inner ear may underlie COVID-19-associated audiovestibular dysfunction.
Article in Communications medicine, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 68 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
68 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 111 citations in OpenAlex.
- Audiovestibular Dysfunction Related to Long COVID-19 Syndrome: A Systematic Review of Characteristics, Pathophysiology, Diagnosis, and Management.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Pooled it
- Auditory complications of COVID-19 infection and vaccination: a TriNetX retrospective cohort study.European archives of oto-rhino-laryngology : official journal of the European Federation of Oto-Rhino-Laryngological Societies (EUFOS) : affiliated with the German Society for Oto-Rhino-Laryngology - Head and Neck Surgery · 2026Article
- Human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived inner ear organoids reveal hair cell damage and plasticity after cisplatin and gentamicin exposure.Disease models & mechanisms · 2026Article
- Severe Bilateral Sudden Sensorineural Hearing Loss Following Mild COVID-19 Infection Requiring Cochlear Implantation: A Case Report.Clinical case reports · 2026Article
- Engineering of functional auditory neurons from human induced pluripotent stem cells.Military Medical Research · 2026Article
- Review
- Tinnitus-Related Functional and Perceptual Impairments Following COVID-19 Vaccination: An Online Multi-Domain Survey Study.Audiology research · 2025Article
- Comparison of Audiometric Outcomes Following Acute Labyrinthitis.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2025Article
- A pilot study on the effect of SARS-CoV-2 spike protein on IL-1β-mediated inflammation in peripheral blood immune cells from AIED patients.Molecular medicine (Cambridge, Mass.) · 2025Article
- SARS-CoV-2-induced sensory perturbations: A narrative review of clinical phenotypes, molecular pathologies, and possible interventions.Brain, behavior, & immunity - health · 2025Review
- Chemically defined and dynamic click hydrogels support hair cell differentiation in human inner ear organoids.Stem cell reports · 2025Article
- Risk of Hearing Loss in Neonates and Toddlers with in Utero Exposure to SARS-CoV-2.The Laryngoscope · 2025Article
- Editorial: Exploring neurotological health concerns post-COVID-19 infection.Frontiers in neurology · 2025Article
- Article
- Review
- Evaluation of the Peripheral and Central Auditory Systems in Children and Adolescents Before and After COVID-19 Infection.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- An In Vitro Oxidative Stress Model of the Human Inner Ear Using Human-Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell-Derived Otic Progenitor Cells.Antioxidants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Prevalence and prognosis of tinnitus in post-COVID-19 patients: a cross-sectional survey.Epidemiology and infection · 2024Article
- Persistent ENT Manifestations in Individuals who Recovered from COVID-19: A Systematic Review.International archives of otorhinolaryngology · 2024Review
- Incidence of hearing loss following COVID-19 among young adults in South Korea: a nationwide cohort study.EClinicalMedicine · 2024Article
8 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
16 authors at 9 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundCOVID-19 is a pandemic respiratory and vascular disease caused by SARS-CoV-2 virus. There is a growing number of sensory deficits associated with COVID-19 and molecular mechanisms underlying these deficits are incompletely understood.
methodsWe report a series of ten COVID-19 patients with audiovestibular symptoms such as hearing loss, vestibular dysfunction and tinnitus. To investigate the causal relationship between SARS-CoV-2 and audiovestibular dysfunction, we examine human inner ear tissue, human inner ear in vitro cellular models, and mouse inner ear tissue.
resultsWe demonstrate that adult human inner ear tissue co-expresses the angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) receptor for SARS-CoV-2 virus, and the transmembrane protease serine 2 (TMPRSS2) and FURIN cofactors required for virus entry. Furthermore, hair cells and Schwann cells in explanted human vestibular tissue can be infected by SARS-CoV-2, as demonstrated by confocal microscopy. We establish three human induced pluripotent stem cell (hiPSC)-derived in vitro models of the inner ear for infection: two-dimensional otic prosensory cells (OPCs) and Schwann cell precursors (SCPs), and three-dimensional inner ear organoids. Both OPCs and SCPs express ACE2, TMPRSS2, and FURIN, with lower ACE2 and FURIN expression in SCPs. OPCs are permissive to SARS-CoV-2 infection; lower infection rates exist in isogenic SCPs. The inner ear organoids show that hair cells express ACE2 and are targets for SARS-CoV-2.
conclusionsOur results provide mechanistic explanations of audiovestibular dysfunction in COVID-19 patients and introduce hiPSC-derived systems for studying infectious human otologic disease.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.