The coronavirus cuts cells' cilia, which may help it invade the lungs

Recommendable!

Recommendable! This is a strong reminder that the "cilia move in synchronized waves to push mucus out of the airway and into the throat." is a primitive and not very effective mechanism to prevent pathogens to enter the lungs. We urgently need better ways to protect human lungs!

"... SARS-CoV-2 replication leads to a rapid loss of the ciliary layer, characterized at the ultrastructural level by axoneme loss and misorientation of remaining basal bodies. Downregulation of the master regulator of ciliogenesis Foxj1 occurs prior to extensive cilia loss, implicating this transcription factor in the dedifferentiation of ciliated cells. Motile cilia function is compromised by SARS-CoV-2 infection, as measured in a mucociliary clearance assay. Epithelial defense mechanisms, including basal cell mobilization and interferon-lambda induction, ramp up only after the initiation of cilia damage. ..."

The coronavirus cuts cells' cilia, which may help it invade the lungs | Science News Trimming the structures prevents mucus from moving the invaders out toward the throat

SARS-CoV-2 infection induces the dedifferentiation of multiciliated cells and impairs mucociliary clearance (open access)