Researchers have found a link between incurable Alzheimer's disease and severe COVID-19. It turned out that the ApoE4 gene, which increases the risk of blue dementia, also increases a person's susceptibility to coronavirus. This is reported in an article published in the journal Cell Stem Cell.
The researchers grew brain cells (neurons and astrocytes) from pluripotent stem cells and then infected them with SARS-CoV-2. Since COVID-19 patients often lose their sense of taste and smell, the team speculated that the virus is having neurological effects. This was confirmed by the fact that neurons and astrocytes were susceptible to infection, while astrocytes exacerbate the virus damage to the brain.
Scientists also grew nerve cells in which the ApoE4 gene was replaced with neutral ApoE3. As a result, the virus began to have less effect on neurons and astrocytes, in contrast to the much more severe effect in cells with ApoE4.
In addition, it was demonstrated that the antiviral drug remdesivir reduced viral load in astrocytes and prevented cell death and neurodegeneration processes.
