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Some research teams around the world are using organoids to study the new coronavirus in the body and how it wrecks organs such as the lungs, kidneys, liver and gut. The aim is to better understand the virus course in the body and its action on organs, as we don’t know yet if observed damages are caused by the virus or secondary complications and the immune system. They discovered that the virus mainly targets basal cells in bronchial organoids and less the protective secretory ‘club cells’. A team showed that some cells die after being infected, but more research is needed to understand how. On the virus circulation in the body, a study showed that SARS-Cov-2 can infect the blood vessels endothelium which leads to the leaking of viral particles into the blood. Organoids also permitted to observe that the virus can damage liver cells and that it can replicate in enterocytes. These findings need further investigations to better understand the action of the virus. Some scientists are also interested in organoids to test drugs, thus reducing the use of animals in trials.

Link: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-01864-x#ref-CR4