Generation of Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme 2/Transmembrane Protease Serine 2-Double-Positive Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell-Derived Spheroids for Anti-Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 Drug Evaluation

Abstract

ABSTRACT We newly generated two human induced pluripotent stem cell (hiPSC)-derived spheroid lines, termed Spheroids_4MACE2-TMPRSS2 and Spheroids_15M63ACE2-TMPRSS2, both of which express angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) and transmembrane protease serine 2 (TMPRSS2), which are critical for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection. Both spheroids were highly susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 infection, and two representative anti-SARS-CoV-2 agents, remdesivir and 5h (an inhibitor of SARS-CoV-2’s main protease), inhibited the infectivity and replication of SARS-CoV-2 in a dose-dependent manner, suggesting that these human-derived induced spheroids should serve as valuable target cells for the evaluation of anti-SARS-CoV-2 activity. IMPORTANCE The hiPSC-derived spheroids we generated are more expensive to obtain than the human cell lines currently available for anti-SARS-CoV-2 drug evaluation, such as Calu-3 cells; however, the spheroids have better infection susceptibility than the existing human cell lines. Although we are cognizant that there are human lung (and colonic) organoid models for the study of SARS-CoV-2, the production of those organoids is greatly more costly and time consuming than the generation of human iPSC-derived spheroid cells. Thus, the addition of human iPSC-derived spheroids for anti-SARS-CoV-2 drug evaluation studies could provide the opportunity for more comprehensive interpretation of the antiviral activity of compounds against SARS-CoV-2.

Keywords

• COVID-19
• SARS-CoV-2
• TMPRSS2
• hACE2
• hiPSC-derived spheroids
• in vitro drug evaluation