Dissemin is shutting down on January 1st, 2025

Published in

American Association of Immunologists, The Journal of Immunology, 6(211), p. 1052-1061, 2023

DOI: 10.4049/jimmunol.2200844

Links

Tools

Export citation

Search in Google Scholar

Intestinal IL-1β Plays a Role in Protecting against SARS-CoV-2 Infection

This paper was not found in any repository, but could be made available legally by the author.
This paper was not found in any repository, but could be made available legally by the author.

Full text: Unavailable

Green circle
Preprint: archiving allowed
Red circle
Postprint: archiving forbidden
Red circle
Published version: archiving forbidden
Data provided by SHERPA/RoMEO

Abstract

Abstract The intestine is constantly balancing the maintenance of a homeostatic microbiome and the protection of the host against pathogens such as viruses. Many cytokines mediate protective inflammatory responses in the intestine, among them IL-1β. IL-1β is a proinflammatory cytokine typically activated upon specific danger signals sensed by the inflammasome. SARS-CoV-2 is capable of infecting multiple organs, including the intestinal tract. Severe cases of COVID-19 were shown to be associated with a dysregulated immune response, and blocking of proinflammatory pathways was demonstrated to improve patient survival. Indeed, anakinra, an Ab against the receptor of IL-1β, has recently been approved to treat patients with severe COVID-19. However, the role of IL-1β during intestinal SARS-CoV-2 infection has not yet been investigated. Here, we analyzed postmortem intestinal and blood samples from patients who died of COVID-19. We demonstrated that high levels of intestinal IL-1β were associated with longer survival time and lower intestinal SARS-CoV-2 RNA loads. Concurrently, type I IFN expression positively correlated with IL-1β levels in the intestine. Using human intestinal organoids, we showed that autocrine IL-1β sustains RNA expression of IFN type I by the intestinal epithelial layer. These results outline a previously unrecognized key role of intestinal IL-1β during SARS-CoV-2 infection.