Evidence map›Paper›PMID 38116398›Full record

ArticleFrontiers in cellular neuroscience2023

Human motor neurons derived from induced pluripotent stem cells are susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Gioia Cappelletti, Claudia Colombrita, Fiona Limanaqi, Sabrina Invernizzi, Micaela Garziano, Claudia Vanetti, Claudia Moscheni, Serena Santangelo, Silvia Zecchini, Daria Trabattoni and 4 more

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Frontiers in cellular neuroscience, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
6citing papers in PubMed
1.6field-weighted citation impact, top 15% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

6 citing papers in PubMed, 8 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Neuroimmune pathophysiology of long COVID.Psychiatry and clinical neurosciences · 2025
    Review
  2. iPSC-derived human cortical organoids display profound alterations of cellular homeostasis following SARS-CoV-2 infection and Spike protein exposure.FASEB journal : official publication of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology · 2025
    Article
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

14 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.

Gioia CappellettiLaboratory of Immune-Biology, Department of Biomedical and Clinical Sciences, University of Milan, Milan, Italy.
Claudia ColombritaDepartment of Neurology and Laboratory of Neuroscience, IRCCS Istituto Auxologico Italiano, Milan, Italy.
Fiona LimanaqiLaboratory of Immune-Biology, Department of Biomedical and Clinical Sciences, University of Milan, Milan, Italy.
Sabrina InvernizziDepartment of Neurology and Laboratory of Neuroscience, IRCCS Istituto Auxologico Italiano, Milan, Italy.
Micaela GarzianoLaboratory of Immune-Biology, Department of Biomedical and Clinical Sciences, University of Milan, Milan, Italy.
Claudia VanettiLaboratory of Immune-Biology, Department of Biomedical and Clinical Sciences, University of Milan, Milan, Italy.
Claudia MoscheniLaboratory of Immune-Biology, Department of Biomedical and Clinical Sciences, University of Milan, Milan, Italy.
Serena SantangeloDepartment of Medical Biotechnology and Translational Medicine, Aldo Ravelli Center for Neurotechnology and Experimental Brain Therapeutics, University of Milan, Milan, Italy.
Silvia ZecchiniLaboratory of Immune-Biology, Department of Biomedical and Clinical Sciences, University of Milan, Milan, Italy.
Daria TrabattoniLaboratory of Immune-Biology, Department of Biomedical and Clinical Sciences, University of Milan, Milan, Italy.
Vincenzo SilaniDepartment of Neurology and Laboratory of Neuroscience, IRCCS Istituto Auxologico Italiano, Milan, Italy.
Mario ClericiLaboratory of Immunology, Department of Pathophysiology and Transplantation, University of Milan, Milan, Italy.
Antonia RattiDepartment of Neurology and Laboratory of Neuroscience, IRCCS Istituto Auxologico Italiano, Milan, Italy.
Mara BiasinLaboratory of Immune-Biology, Department of Biomedical and Clinical Sciences, University of Milan, Milan, Italy.
University of Milan · ITIstituti di Ricovero e Cura a Carattere Scientifico · ITFerrari (Italy) · ITIRCCS Istituto Auxologico Italiano · IT

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Introduction: COVID-19 typically causes Q7 respiratory disorders, but a high proportion of patients also reports neurological and neuromuscular symptoms during and after SARSCoV-2 infection. Despite a number of studies documenting SARS-CoV-2 infection of various neuronal cell populations, the impact of SARS-CoV-2 exposure on motor neuronal cells specifically has not been investigated so far. Methods: Thus, by using human iPSC-derived motor neurons (iPSC-MNs) we assessed: (i) the expression of SARS-CoV-2 main receptors; (ii) iPSC-MN infectability by SARS-CoV-2; and (iii) the effect of SARS-CoV-2 exposure on iPSC-MN transcriptome. Results: Gene expression profiling and immunofluorescence (IF) analysis of the main host cell receptors recognized by SARS-CoV-2 revealed that all of them are expressed in iPSC-MNs, with CD147 and NRP1 being the most represented ones. By analyzing SARS-CoV-2 N1 and N2 gene expression over time, we observed that human iPSC-MNs were productively infected by SARS-CoV-2 in the absence of cytopathic effect. Supernatants collected from SARS-CoV-2-infected iPSC-MNs were able to re-infect VeroE6 cells. Image analyses of SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid proteins by IF confirmed iPSC-MN infectability. Furthermore, SARS-CoV-2 infection in iPSCMNs significantly altered the expression of genes (IL-6, ANG, S1PR1, BCL2, BAX, Casp8, HLA-A, ERAP1, CD147, MX1) associated with cell survival and metabolism, as well as antiviral and inflammatory response. Discussion: These results suggest for the very first time that SARS-CoV-2 can productively infect human iPSC-derived MNs probably by binding CD147 and NRP1 receptors. Such information will be important to unveil the biological bases of neuromuscular disorders characterizing SARS-CoV-2 infection and the so called long-COVID symptoms.

Indexed as

COVID-19iPSC-derived motor neuronslong-COVIDneuroinflammationneuromuscular disordersSARS-CoV-2 infection

Identifiers

PMID38116398
PMCPMC10728732
OpenAlexW4389346148

What Socratic holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.