SARS-CoV-2 infection aggravates chronic comorbidities of cardiovascular diseases and diabetes in mice

摘要

Background:Cardiovascular diseases(CVDs)and diabetes mellitus(DM)are top two chronic comorbidities that increase the severity and mortality of COVID-19.However,how SARS-CoV-2 alters the progression of chronic diseases remain unclear.Methods:We used adenovirus to deliver h-ACE2 to lung to enable SARS-CoV-2 infection in mice.SARS-CoV-2’s impacts on pathogenesis of chronic diseases were studied through histopathological,virologic and molecular biology analysis.Results:Pre-existing CVDs resulted in viral invasion,ROS elevation and activation of apoptosis pathways contribute myocardial injury during SARS-CoV-2 infection.Viral infection increased fasting blood glucose and reduced insulin response in DM model.Bone mineral density decreased shortly after infection,which associated with impaired PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling.Conclusion:We established mouse models mimicked the complex pathological symptoms of COVID-19 patients with chronic diseases.Pre-existing diseases could impair the inflammatory responses to SARS-CoV-2 infection,which further aggravated the pre-existing diseases.This work provided valuable information to better understand the interplay between the primary diseases and SARS-CoV-2 infection.