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Murine Corneal Transplantation: A Model to Study the Most Common Form of Solid Organ Transplantation
Published on: November 17, 2014
Presence of SARS-CoV-2 in a Cornea Transplant
Myriem Otmani Idrissi1,2, Jean-Pierre Baudoin1,2, Anne-Line Chateau3
1Aix-Marseille University, MEPHI, IRD, APHM, 13005 Marseille, France.
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.
