The pathogenic role of epithelial and endothelial cells in early-phase COVID-19 pneumonia: victims and partners in crime.
Mod Pathol
; 34(8): 1444-1455, 2021 08.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-33883694
ABSTRACT
Current understanding of the complex pathogenesis of COVID-19 interstitial pneumonia pathogenesis in the light of biopsies carried out in early/moderate phase and histology data obtained at postmortem analysis is discussed. In autopsies the most observed pattern is diffuse alveolar damage with alveolar-epithelial type-II cell hyperplasia, hyaline membranes, and frequent thromboembolic disease. However, these observations cannot explain some clinical, radiological and physiopathological features observed in SARS-CoV-2 interstitial pneumonia, including the occurrence of vascular enlargement on CT and preserved lung compliance in subjects even presenting with or developing respiratory failure. Histological investigation on early-phase pneumonia on perioperative samples and lung biopsies revealed peculiar morphological and morpho-phenotypical changes including hyper-expression of phosphorylated STAT3 and immune checkpoint molecules (PD-L1 and IDO) in alveolar-epithelial and endothelial cells. These features might explain in part these discrepancies.
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Cell Communication
/
Endothelial Cells
/
Epithelial Cells
/
COVID-19
/
Lung
Type of study:
Prognostic_studies
Limits:
Humans
Language:
En
Journal:
Mod Pathol
Journal subject:
PATOLOGIA
Year:
2021
Document type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Italia