Cardiomyopathy Does Not Exacerbate the Severity of Pneumonia Caused by a SARS-CoV-2 Delta Variant in the J2N-k Hamster Model

• Published in: Viruses Vol. 15; no. 12; p. 2280
• Main Authors: Iwatsuki-Horimoto, Kiyoko, Ito, Mutsumi, Okuda-Hamabata, Moe, Takagi, Hisayoshi, Imai, Masaki, Kawaoka, Yoshihiro
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 21.11.2023
• Subjects: animal model; Animal models; Animals; Bacterial pneumonia; Cardiomyopathy; Cardiovascular diseases; Complications and side effects; Coronaviruses; COVID-19; COVID-19 infection; Development and progression; Disease; disease severity; Females; Gender; Hamsters; Heart diseases; Hypertension; Infections; Inflammation; Mortality; pathogenesis; Physiological aspects; Pneumonia; risk factor; Risk factors; SARS-CoV-2; Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; Syrian hamster; Viruses; Weight control; Japan; United States > US; COVID-19; Syrian hamster; SARS-CoV-2; animal model; cardiomyopathy; risk factor
• DOI: 10.3390/v15122280
• ISSN: 1999-4915

Cardiovascular disease is one of many risk factors that have been linked to increased severity or mortality in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients; however, the exact role of SARS-CoV-2 in the pathogenesis of cardiac inflammatory injury has not been established. A previous study reported that SARS-CoV-2 causes more severe disease with cardiomyopathy in a J2N-k animal model. Here, we investigated the sensitivity of J2N-k hamsters, as a cardiomyopathy animal model, to a delta strain of SARS-CoV-2 compared to J2N-n control animals. We found that J2N-k hamsters were less susceptible to this delta strain than J2N-n animals, and we found no evidence that cardiomyopathy is a risk factor in this animal model. Since the previous study reported that SARS-CoV-2 causes more severe disease with cardiomyopathy in the same animal model, further analysis of the relationship between cardiomyopathy and SARS-CoV-2 infection is needed.