Francis Magen E, Richardson Brian, McNeil Mara, Rioux Melissa, Foley Mary K, Ge Anni, Pechous Roger D, Kindrachuk Jason, Cameron Cheryl M, Richardson Christopher, Lew Jocelyne, Cameron Mark J, Gerdts Volker, Falzarano Darryl, Kelvin Alyson A
Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Faculty of Medicine, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS B3H 4R2, Canada.
Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization - International Vaccine Centre (VIDO-InterVac), University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK, Canada.
bioRxiv. 2021 Jan 12:2021.01.12.426381. doi: 10.1101/2021.01.12.426381.
SARS-CoV-2 (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2) hospitalizations and deaths disportionally affect males and the elderly. Here we investigated the impact of male sex and age by infecting adult male, aged male, and adult female ferrets with SARS-CoV-2. Aged male ferrets had a decrease in temperature which was accompanied by prolonged viral replication with increased pathology in the upper respiratory tract after infection. Transcriptome analysis of the nasal turbinates and lungs indicated that female ferrets had significant increases in interferon response genes (OASL, MX1, ISG15, etc.) on day 2 post infection which was delayed in aged males. In addition, genes associated with taste and smell such as RTP1, CHGA, and CHGA1 at later time points were upregulated in males but not in females. These results provide insight into COVID-19 and suggests that older males may play a role in viral transmission due to decreased antiviral responses.
新型冠状病毒2型（SARS-CoV-2，即严重急性呼吸综合征冠状病毒2）导致的住院和死亡情况对男性和老年人的影响尤为严重。在此，我们通过用SARS-CoV-2感染成年雄性雪貂、老年雄性雪貂和成年雌性雪貂，研究了性别和年龄的影响。老年雄性雪貂体温下降，感染后病毒复制时间延长，上呼吸道病理变化增加。鼻甲和肺部的转录组分析表明，雌性雪貂在感染后第2天干扰素反应基因（OASL、MX1、ISG15等）显著增加，而老年雄性雪貂则延迟出现这种情况。此外，在后期时间点，与味觉和嗅觉相关的基因，如RTP1、CHGA和CHGA1在雄性雪貂中上调，但在雌性雪貂中未上调。这些结果为深入了解2019冠状病毒病提供了依据，并表明老年男性可能由于抗病毒反应降低而在病毒传播中起作用。
