Urban Particulate Matter Impairment of Airway Surface Liquid-Mediated Coronavirus Inactivation.

Stapleton, Emma M; Welch, Jennifer L; Ubeda, Erika A; Xiang, Jinhua; Zabner, Joseph; Thornell, Ian M; Nonnenmann, Matthew W; Stapleton, Jack T et al. · J Infect Dis · 2022

basic_science · Level V

Where this comes from

Abstract

Air pollution particulate matter (PM) is associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection and severity, although mechanistic studies are lacking. We tested whether airway surface liquid (ASL) from primary human airway epithelial cells is antiviral against SARS-CoV-2 and human alphacoronavirus 229E (CoV-229E) (responsible for common colds), and whether PM (urban, indoor air pollution [IAP], volcanic ash) affected ASL antiviral activity. ASL inactivated SARS-CoV-2 and CoV-229E. Independently, urban PM also decreased SARS-CoV-2 and CoV-229E infection, and IAP PM decreased CoV-229E infection. However, in combination, urban PM impaired ASL's antiviral activity against both viruses, and the same effect occurred for IAP PM and ash against SARS-CoV-2, suggesting that PM may enhance SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Medical subject headings