SARS-CoV-2 infection induces a pro-inflammatory cytokine response through cGAS-STING and NF-κB

Neufeldt, Christopher J.; Cerikan, Berati; Cortese, Mirko; Frankish, Jamie; Lee, Ji-Young; Plociennikowska, Agnieszka; Heigwer, Florian; Joecks, Sebastian; Burkart, Sandy S.; Zander, David Y.; Gendarme, Mathieu; El Debs, Bachir; Halama, Niels; Merle, Uta; Boutros, Michael; Binder, Marco; Bartenschlager, Ralf

SARS-CoV-2 is a novel virus that has rapidly spread, causing a global pandemic. In the majority of infected patients, SARS-CoV-2 leads to mild disease; however, in a significant proportion of infections, individuals develop severe symptoms that can lead to permanent lung damage or death. These severe cases are often associated with high levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines and low antiviral responses which can lead to systemic complications. We have evaluated transcriptional and cytokine secretion profiles from infected cell cultures and detected a distinct upregulation of inflammatory cytokines that parallels samples taken from infected patients. Building on these observations, we found a specific activation of NF-κB and a block of IRF3 nuclear translocation in SARS-CoV-2 infected cells. This NF-κB response is mediated by cGAS-STING activation and could be attenuated through STING targeting drugs. Our results show that SARS-CoV-2 curates a cGAS-STING mediated NF-κB driven inflammatory immune response in epithelial cells that likely contributes to inflammatory responses seen in patients and might be a target to suppress severe disease symptoms.