AUTHOR=Ju Jiahang , Su Yuwen , Zhou You , Wei Hui , Xu Qi TITLE=The SARS-CoV-2 envelope protein disrupts barrier function in an in vitro human blood-brain barrier model JOURNAL=Frontiers in Cellular Neuroscience VOLUME=16 YEAR=2022 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/cellular-neuroscience/articles/10.3389/fncel.2022.897564 DOI=10.3389/fncel.2022.897564 ISSN=1662-5102 ABSTRACT=
Patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) have been frequently reported to exhibit neurological manifestations and disruption of the blood-brain barrier (BBB). Among the risk factors for BBB breakdown, the loss of endothelial cells and pericytes has caused widespread concern. Recent studies have revealed that severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 envelope (S2E) protein caused cell death. We tested the hypothesis that the S2E protein alone could induce BBB dysfunction. The S2E protein bound to human BBB-related cells and inhibited cell viability in a dose- and time-dependent manner. Importantly, the S2E protein disrupted barrier function in an