The relevance of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) ORF8 in the pathogenesis of COVID-19 is unclear. Virus natural isolates with deletions in ORF8 were associated with wild milder disease, suggesting that ORF8 might contribute to SARS-CoV-2 virulence. This manuscript shows that ORF8 is involved in inflammation and in the activation of macrophages in two experimental systems: humanized K18-hACE2 transgenic mice and organoid-derived human airway cells. These results identify ORF8 protein as a potential target for COVID-19 therapies.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1128/mbio.00451-23 | DOI Listing |
iScience
January 2025
School of Life Sciences, Chongqing University, Chongqing 401331, China.
Severe cases of COVID-19 are associated with immune responses that lead to a surge in inflammatory molecules, resulting in multi-organ failure and death. This significant increase in inflammatory factors is triggered by viral proteins. Open reading frame 8 (ORF8) has received particular attention as a unique accessory protein of SARS-CoV-2.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMol Biol Res Commun
January 2025
Faculty of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran.
The recent pernicious COVID-19 pandemic is caused by SARS-CoV-2. While most therapeutic strategies have focused on the viral spike protein, Open Reading Frame 8 (ORF8) plays a critical role in causing the severity of the disease. Nonetheless, there still needs to be more information on the ORF8 binding epitopes and their appropriate safe inhibitors.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJCI Insight
December 2024
Infection Biology Program, Global Center for Pathogen Research and Human Health, Lerner Research Institute, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, Ohio, USA.
Patients with immune-mediated inflammatory diseases (IMIDs) like rheumatoid arthritis (RA) are at higher risk for severe COVID-19 and long-term complications in bone health. Emerging clinical evidence demonstrated that SARS-CoV-2 infection reduces bone turnover and promotes bone loss, but the mechanism underlying worsened bone health remains elusive. This study sought to identify specific immune mediators that exacerbated preexisting IMIDs after SARS-CoV-2 exposure.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCurr Biol
December 2024
Department of Human Genetics, University of Utah School of Medicine, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, USA; Howard Hughes Medical Institute, 4000 Jones Bridge Road, Chevy Chase, MD 20815, USA. Electronic address:
Coronaviruses exhibit many mechanisms of genetic innovation, including the acquisition of accessory genes that originate by capture of cellular genes or through duplication of existing viral genes. Accessory genes influence viral host range and cellular tropism, but little is known about how selection acts on these variable regions of virus genomes. We used experimental evolution of mouse hepatitis virus (MHV) encoding a cellular AKAP7 phosphodiesterase and an inactive native phosphodiesterase, NS2, to model the evolutionary fate of accessory genes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Virol
December 2024
Department of Microbiology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York, USA.
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