GeNeuro

Researchers Detect HERV-W ENV in COVID-19 Patients and Link Expression to Disease Severity

Regulatory News:

GeNeuro (Euronext Paris: CH0308403085 - GNRO), acknowledges data published today in the Lancet’s EBioMedicine showing that HERV-W ENV expression was detected in the lymphocytes of all 30 studied hospitalized COVID-19 patients, versus none in healthy subjects, and that the level of HERV-W ENV was correlated with the severity of the evolution of the disease. The study, published under the title “Evidence of the pathogenic HERV-W envelope expression in T lymphocytes in association with the respiratory outcome of COVID-19 patients”, was conducted by a team led by Dr. Claudia Matteucci at University of Rome “Tor Vergata”, in collaboration with the International Center for Infectiology Research in Lyon, France (CIRI) and GeNeuro.

“Our findings on HERV-W ENV in the blood of hospitalized COVID-19 patients are truly novel, as this pro-inflammatory protein is usually found in specific disease situations, mostly in the brain, but has never before been observed circulating in the body at high levels and, in particular, was never seen expressed in T-lymphocytes” said Prof. Claudia Matteucci, Department of Experimental Medicine, University of Rome “Tor Vergata”. “The study shows a clear association between HERV-W ENV expression in lymphocytes and the severity of the respiratory evolution of COVID-19 in hospitalized patients. Understanding the mechanisms leading from SARS-CoV-2 infection to severe disease is critical for the development of effective treatments. The identification of the association between HERV-W ENV expression and inflammatory and immune dysfunction in COVID-19 opens an avenue for further investigation of its role as a trigger of detrimental immune response and potential target for therapy.”

In a parallel effort supported by the French National Research Agency (ANR), the CIRI in Lyon started research to understand why HERV-W ENV was found at high levels in the blood of hospitalized COVID-19 patients. Preliminary findings, available online on Research Square, show that when human peripheral blood mononuclear cells from healthy donors were cultured and exposed to SARS-CoV-2, about 20% of donors responded by expressing HERV-W ENV in lymphocytes, cells in which the virus did not replicate. This expression was triggered specifically by the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2, independently from cytokine release.