Cardiomyopathy Does Not Exacerbate the Severity of Pneumonia Caused by a SARS-CoV-2 Delta Variant in the J2N-k Hamster Model

Kiyoko Iwatsuki-Horimoto; Mutsumi Ito; Moe Okuda-Hamabata; Hisayoshi Takagi; Masaki Imai; Yoshihiro Kawaoka

doi:10.3390/v15122280

Cardiomyopathy Does Not Exacerbate the Severity of Pneumonia Caused by a SARS-CoV-2 Delta Variant in the J2N-k Hamster Model

Viruses. 2023 Nov 21;15(12):2280. doi: 10.3390/v15122280.

Authors

Kiyoko Iwatsuki-Horimoto^{1

2}, Mutsumi Ito¹, Moe Okuda-Hamabata¹, Hisayoshi Takagi³, Masaki Imai^{1

4}, Yoshihiro Kawaoka^{1

2

4

5

6}

Affiliations

¹ Division of Virology, Institute of Medical Science, University of Tokyo, Minato-ku, Tokyo 108-8639, Japan.
² Pandemic Preparedness, Infection and Advanced Research Center (UTOPIA), University of Tokyo, Minato-ku, Tokyo 108-8639, Japan.
³ Japan SLC, Inc., Hamamatsu, Shizuoka 433-8114, Japan.
⁴ The Research Center for Global Viral Diseases, National Center for Global Health and Medicine Research Institute, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 162-8655, Japan.
⁵ Department of Special Pathogens, International Research Center for Infectious Diseases, Institute of Medical Science, University of Tokyo, Minato-ku, Tokyo 108-8639, Japan.
⁶ Influenza Research Institute, Department of Pathobiological Sciences, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53711, USA.

Abstract

Cardiovascular disease is one of many risk factors that have been linked to increased severity or mortality in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients; however, the exact role of SARS-CoV-2 in the pathogenesis of cardiac inflammatory injury has not been established. A previous study reported that SARS-CoV-2 causes more severe disease with cardiomyopathy in a J2N-k animal model. Here, we investigated the sensitivity of J2N-k hamsters, as a cardiomyopathy animal model, to a delta strain of SARS-CoV-2 compared to J2N-n control animals. We found that J2N-k hamsters were less susceptible to this delta strain than J2N-n animals, and we found no evidence that cardiomyopathy is a risk factor in this animal model. Since the previous study reported that SARS-CoV-2 causes more severe disease with cardiomyopathy in the same animal model, further analysis of the relationship between cardiomyopathy and SARS-CoV-2 infection is needed.

Keywords: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; Syrian hamster; animal model; cardiomyopathy; risk factor.

MeSH terms

Animals
COVID-19* / complications
Cardiomyopathies* / etiology
Cricetinae
Disease Models, Animal
Humans
Mesocricetus
SARS-CoV-2

Supplementary concepts

SARS-CoV-2 variants

Abstract

MeSH terms

Supplementary concepts

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