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So far, scientists have documented that the virus that causes COVID-19 mainly affects the lungs, but a new study suggests that the consequence of the infection may be kidney damage, which in some patients results in permanent consequences.
Kidney damage due to coronavirus effects occurs when the SARS-CoVa-2 virus infects the kidneys, which causes tissue scarring, as evidenced in a new study by scientists from the German RWTH Uniclinic clinic in Aachen and Dutch experts from Radboud University. Research by German and Dutch scientists has shown that COVID-19 causes direct damage to cells inside the kidneys, contributing to tissue scarring or kidney fibrosis. The results of the study were published in the journal Cell Stem Cell.
Scientists claim that such damaged kidney tissue in infected kidneys could indicate possible organ damage in the long run. To study the effect of SARS-CoVa-2 on the kidneys, German and Dutch experts used the kidney tissue of 62 patients who were in the intensive care unit due to COVID. 61 autopsies and one biopsy were performed.
They then compared the kidney tissues of COVID patients and the tissues of other patients who were in the hospital because of lung problems unrelated to COVID and the tissues of a group of healthy people. They found that the kidney tissue of patients with Covid-19 had far more lesions than the other tissues they analyzed. After discovering that COVID-19 damages the kidneys, the researchers tried to determine how the virus succeeds.
Laboratory research on organoids
To investigate, scientists have grown mini kidneys in the lab, called organoids. They develop from stem cells and contain many different kidney cells, with the exception of immune cells. The kidney organoids were then infected with the live SARS-CoV-2 virus to determine the direct effect of the virus on the kidney cells, regardless of possible side effects caused by the immune cells or other systemic effects.
They found signs in the kidney organelles and accompanying signals that “contribute to the wound-forming process.” Their findings strongly suggest that the coronavirus, and not inflammation or any other systemic cause, is responsible for the kidney damage observed in patients with COVID-19, the scientists said. Organoids from infected kidneys show that the virus directly causes damage to cells, regardless of the immune system, they concluded.
“With this research, we discovered a piece of the puzzle that shows the harmful effects of the virus on the body,” one of the scientists who worked on the study, Jitske Jansen, said in a press release. It was concluded that the resulting wounds could have a long-term impact on the kidney function of the survivors.
The results of the study suggest that the latest findings of another large data-driven study from the United States, which showed reduced kidney function in more than 90,000 COVID-19 survivors, may be due to direct effects of SARS-CoV2 on the kidney. causes scarring.
Katarina Reimer from RWTH Uniklinik stressed that kidney fibrosis is a serious long-term consequence that can occur after any kidney damage and is related to kidney function. “The following long-term studies will provide an additional insight into the renal pathologies caused by SARS-CoV-2,” Reimer said.
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