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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Immunol.
Sec. Mucosal Immunity
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2025.1533050
This article is part of the Research Topic Pulmonary Immunity: Role of Inducible Bronchus-associated Lymphoid Tissue in Lung Diseases View all 3 articles
Pulmonary Lymphoid Tissue Induced after SARS-CoV-2 Infection in Rhesus Macaques
Provisionally accepted- University of California, Davis, Davis, United States
Pulmonary immunity plays a vital role against lung pathogens, including SARS-CoV-2 infection. To characterize the pulmonary immunity after SARS-CoV-2 infection, we investigated the distribution of immune cells in the lungs of rhesus macaques experimentally infected with SARS-CoV-2 and euthanized 11-14 days later. Using immunohistochemistry, tertiary lymphoid tissue was found in all SARS-CoV-2 infected animals. The number (13.9 vs 1.5 iPLT number/ lung cm 2 ), size (25992 vs 13946 µm 2 ) and total area (0.46 vs 0.02 mm 2 iPLT/ lung cm 2 ) of the lymphoid tissue aggregations were significantly higher in SARS-CoV-2 infected animals than that of normal controls. This induced pulmonary lymphoid tissues comprised B cells, T cells, CD169 macrophages, and follicular dendritic cells with evidence of lymphocyte priming and differentiation. The results suggest local immunity plays an important role in the SARS-CoV-2 infection. Further study of pulmonary immunity could lead to new interventions to develop vaccine strategies and discover new immune-regulatory biomarkers in monitoring and controlling SARS-CoV-2 infection and other lung diseases.
Keywords: pulmonary mucosa associated lymphoid tissue, Respiratory Viral Infection, SAR-CoV-2, immune response, CD169, animal model
Received: 22 Nov 2024; Accepted: 20 Feb 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Ma, Olstad, Van Rompay, Iyer, Miller and Reader. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Zhong-Min Ma, University of California, Davis, Davis, United States
Rachel Reader, University of California, Davis, Davis, United States
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