Presence of SARS-CoV-2 in a Cornea Transplant

Myriem Otmani Idrissi; Jean-Pierre Baudoin; Anne-Line Chateau; Sarah Aherfi; Marielle Bedotto-Buffet; Alain Latil; Hubert Lepidi; Jacques Chiaroni; Christophe Picard; Jean-Louis Mege; Bernard La Scola; Soraya Mezouar

doi:10.3390/pathogens10080934

Presence of SARS-CoV-2 in a Cornea Transplant

Pathogens. 2021 Jul 24;10(8):934. doi: 10.3390/pathogens10080934.

Authors

Myriem Otmani Idrissi^{1

2}, Jean-Pierre Baudoin^{1

2}, Anne-Line Chateau³, Sarah Aherfi^{1

2}, Marielle Bedotto-Buffet^{1

2}, Alain Latil⁴, Hubert Lepidi^{1

2}, Jacques Chiaroni^{3

5}, Christophe Picard^{3

5}, Jean-Louis Mege^{1

2

4}, Bernard La Scola^{1

2}, Soraya Mezouar^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Aix-Marseille University, MEPHI, IRD, APHM, 13005 Marseille, France.
² IHU-Méditerranée Infection, 13005 Marseille, France.
³ EFS Provence Alpes Côte d'Azur Corse, 13005 Marseille, France.
⁴ CH d'Antibes-Juan Les Pins, 06160 Antibes, France.
⁵ Aix-Marseille University, EFS, CNRS, ADES, 13005 Marseille, France.

Abstract

Background: The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has impacted tissue transplantation procedures since conjunctivas were found to be associated with coronavirus infection. Here, we investigated infection of a cornea graft from a COVID-19-positive donor.

Methods: In order to evaluate the presence of SARS-CoV-2 in the cornea graft we first carried out a qRT-PCR and then we investigated the presence of SARS-CoV-2 by fluorescence and electron microscopy.

Conclusions: Although the cornea graft was found to be negative by qRT-PCR, we were able to show the presence of SARS-CoV-2 in corneal cells expressing the SARS-CoV-2 receptor, ACE2. Taken together, our findings may have important implications for the use of corneal tissue in graft indications and open the debate on SARS-CoV-2 transmissibility.

Keywords: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; cornea.