Treating SARS-CoV-2 infection in human 3D respiratory models

The current Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has far-reaching consequences with a disruption of modern society never witnessed before by locking much of the world down, crashing economies or health care services to name a few. The infectious agent causing COVID-19 is the virus SARS-CoV-2. Its extremely rapid spread within populations around the globe increases the demand for understanding the pathogenicity of the virus during entry via respiratory tissues as well as for testing effective drugs or novel vaccination strategies to being armed against future attacks by the virus. During the last months, asymptomatic to mild to very severe courses upon infection with SARS-CoV-2 were reported, raising questions about the factors involved in these differences. Recently, we developed an optimized respiratory human 3D system model system, which mimics the upper and lower respiratory tract and is therefore ideal for the investigation of SARS-CoV-2 infections. In addition, immune cells can be included to this respiratory model and relevant scenarios of host-pathogen interaction can be investigated. During CURE we aim to (i) monitor the pathogenesis of SARS-CoV-2 during early transmission events and characterize tissue and cellular damage, (ii)investigate immune-mediated mechanisms in the early and late phase of infection, and (iii) test possible treatment options using drugs already approved for other diseases. Our respiratory 3D tissue model will contribute to additional treatment options for COVID-19 patients and furthermore provide new knowledge on tissue damage and viral transmission.