University of Queensland researchers, including Phenomics Australia Scientific Director Prof Ernst Wolvetang, have found a way to reverse a cellular process triggered by COVID-19 that contributes to premature ageing of the brain.
Dr Julio Aguado and a team from UQ’s Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology used synthetic brain organoid models, grown in a laboratory from human stem cells, to study the effect of different SARS-COV-2 variants on brain tissue.
This story was first published on AIBN’s website.
“We found COVID-19 accelerates the presence of ‘zombie’ or senescent cells, which accumulate naturally and gradually in the brain as we get older,” Dr Aguado said.
“Senescent cells are known to drive tissue inflammation and degeneration, leaving patients exposed to cognitive impairments like brain fog and memory loss.”
Dr Aguado said confirmation that COVID-19 was a catalyst for this premature ageing prompted an attempt to reset the biological brain clock.
“We used the brain organoids to screen a range of therapeutics, looking for any capable of removing those senescent cells,” he said.
The researchers found four drugs that selectively eliminated the cells caused by COVID-19 – navitoclax, ABT-737, fisetin, and a cocktail of dasatinib plus quercetin (D+Q).
Dr Aguado said the drugs rejuvenated the brain and decreased the chance of neurodegenerative symptoms in the organoids, as well as in a mouse model infected with COVID-19.
“More research is needed to fully understand the mechanisms at play, but this study marks a significant step forward in our knowledge of the intricate relationship between viral infections, ageing and neurological well-being,” he said.
“Long term, we can expect widespread use of these drugs to treat persistent post-acute infection syndromes caused by viral infections like COVID-19.”
AIBN organoid expert Professor Ernst Wolvetang said human stem cell-derived brain organoids allow researchers to carry out experiments that would be ethically and practically difficult in human subjects.
“Our study beautifully demonstrates how human brain models can accelerate the pre-clinical screening of therapeutics – while also moving towards animal-free testing – with potentially global impacts,” Professor Wolvetang said.
“This same method of drug screening could also help Alzheimer’s research and a whole host of neurodegenerative diseases where senescence is a driver.”
The study was carried out with the support of researchers from Australia, the UK, the US, Chile, Germany, and Russia.
Phenomics Australia provides a national centre of expertise and service provision to deploy a more comprehensive and sophisticated range of in vitro Genome Engineering and Disease Modelling capabilities to understand the functional consequences of DNA sequence variation in the human genome for health and disease while maintaining the expertise for in vivo disease modelling and genome engineering. To meet the high demand for adaptable and scalable disease-modelling platforms for improved diagnosis, Precision Medicine for genetic disorders, and therapeutic development by both academia and the biopharmaceutical industry, Phenomics Australia offers In Vitro services through a collaborative consortium of ten laboratories and facilities across Australia, operating at ANU (ANU Centre for Therapeutic Discovery), Perkins (Translational Cancer Research Program in Oncology), Monash (Monash Organoid Program & Monash Genome Modification Platform), MCRI (iPSC derivation & Gene Editing Facility), Peter Mac (Victorian Centre for Functional Genomics), UMelb (Centre for Stem Cell Systems & Stem Cell Disease Modelling Laboratory), UQ (In vitro Genome Engineering and Disease Modelling Service), and VCCRI (Stem Cell Production Facility iPSC Reprogramming Service)
