Dr. Rajendra Prasad Centre for Ophthalmic Sciences, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India.
Department of Pathology, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India; and.
Cornea. 2022 Dec 1;41(12):1559-1563. doi: 10.1097/ICO.0000000000003127. Epub 2022 Sep 28.
The aim of this study was to analyze the presence of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in the corneal tissue of asymptomatic deceased novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients.
This was a cross-sectional study performed at a tertiary eye hospital. All corneas of the deceased asymptomatic donors who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 on a nasopharyngeal swab at the time of corneal tissue harvesting were included in the study. Histopathological examination and immunohistochemistry were performed. mRNA in situ hybridization for SARS-CoV-2 was performed in all specimens that showed positive immunostaining. The main outcome measure was the presence of SARS-CoV-2 virus in the corneal tissues.
Twenty-two corneal tissues of 11 donors were analyzed. The mean age was 72.2 ± 14.2 years. On histological examination, no signs of inflammation or any other abnormalities were detected in the cornea and adjacent bulbar conjunctiva. Immunohistochemistry revealed faint to moderate cytoplasmic staining in the basal layer of the corneal epithelium in 8 specimens from 5 patients. None of the specimens with positive immunostaining showed the presence of SARS-CoV-2 mRNA.
In line with previous studies , our study also reflects the absence of SARS-CoV-2 viral mRNA in corneal tissues of clinically asymptomatic deceased COVID-19 donors, thereby indicating a probable low risk of transmission of the SARS-CoV-2 virus through the transplantation of corneas from donors who tested positive for, but were asymptomatic for COVID-19. In addition, further studies on the subject should include histopathological examination because of the false positive and negative rates of molecular tests.
本研究旨在分析无症状的 2019 年新型冠状病毒病（COVID-19）死亡患者的角膜组织中是否存在严重急性呼吸综合征冠状病毒 2 型（SARS-CoV-2）病毒。
这是一项在三级眼科医院进行的横断面研究。纳入研究的对象为在进行角膜组织采集时，通过鼻咽拭子检测 SARS-CoV-2 呈阳性且无症状的已故供体的所有角膜。进行组织病理学检查和免疫组织化学检查。对所有免疫染色呈阳性的标本进行 SARS-CoV-2 的 mRNA 原位杂交。主要观察指标为角膜组织中是否存在 SARS-CoV-2 病毒。
分析了 11 名供体的 22 个角膜组织。平均年龄为 72.2±14.2 岁。组织学检查显示，角膜和相邻球结膜无炎症或任何其他异常表现。免疫组织化学显示，5 名患者的 8 个标本中角膜上皮的基底层有微弱至中度的细胞质染色。所有免疫染色呈阳性的标本均未显示存在 SARS-CoV-2 mRNA。
与先前的研究一致，本研究也反映了临床无症状的 COVID-19 死亡供体的角膜组织中不存在 SARS-CoV-2 病毒 mRNA，从而表明通过移植 COVID-19 检测呈阳性但无症状的供体的角膜传播 SARS-CoV-2 病毒的风险可能较低。此外，由于分子检测的假阳性和假阴性率，进一步的研究应包括组织病理学检查。
