The COVID-Kidney Controversy: Can SARS-CoV-2 Cause Direct Renal Infection?
Mar 22, 2022
Wei Ling Laua Jonathan E. Zuckermanb Ajay Guptaa Kamyar Kalantar-Zadeha
Abstract
Context: Determining whether SARS-CoV-2 causes direct infection of the kidneys is challenging due to limitations in imaging and molecular tools.
The subject of Review: A growing number of conflicting kidney biopsy and autopsy reports highlight this controversial issue.
Second Opinion: Based on the collective evidence, therapies that improve hemodynamic stability and oxygenation, or dampen complement activation, are likely to ameliorate acute kidney injury in COVID-19. At this time, whether inhibition of viral infection and replication directly modulates kidney damage is inconclusive.
Keywords: COVID-19 · SARS-CoV-2 · Kidney pathology · Immunohistochemistry · Ribonucleic acid
Contact: joanna.jia@wecistanche.com
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Introduction
The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)virus outbreak in China at the end of2019 led to the COVID-19 pandemic, which has claimed over 1 million lives as of October 1, 2020. SARS-CoV-2 demonstrates broad organotropism, that is, cells in many organ systems can be directly infected and may act as a reservoir for the virus. Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) is the functional receptor of SARS-CoV-2 and is expressed in most organs, with the highest expression in the kidneys (proximal tubular cells and podocytes) and ileum [1]. Given what is known about ACE2 tissue distribution, the association between acute kidney injury and increased mortality risk in COVID-19, and the urgent need to identify therapeutic targets, it is no surprise that SARS-CoV- 2-associated kidney injury is an area of active research.
Several indirect pathways of SARS-CoV-2 acute kidney injury have been elucidated. Kidney pathology shows a varying degree of acute tubular injury which includes necrosis when severe, due to a combination of a virus-induced cytokine storm, hypoxemia, and polypharmacy. Complement and coagulation cascades are triggered and may activate each other [2]; however, kidney thrombotic microangiopathy is present only in a subset of cases [3–6]. A few cases of glomerular disease have been reported, with the most common being collapsing glomerulopathy [6–10] which can be associated with high-risk APOL1 gene variants [7–9]. Minimal change disease, membranous glomerulopathy, anti-GBM disease, infection-associated glomerulonephritis, and ANCA-associated vasculitis have also been reported concurrently with SARS- CoV-2 infection [3, 6, 7, 11–13].
Whether direct viral kidney infection occurs with SARS-CoV-2 is a controversial topic. Detection methods include histology, that is, immunohistochemistry (IHC) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and ribonucleic acid (RNA) assays, that is, in situ hybridization (RNA-ISH) and quantitative real-time reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). These methods have inherent limitations.
IHC is valid only if the antibody probe is specific; unfortunately, the commercially available antibodies targeting the SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid protein (NP) and spike (S) antigens have not been well validated. In particular, there are concerns with the anti-SARS-NP anti- body from clone ID: 019 (Sino Biological, Beijing, China) which has been tested under numerous conditions and has shown nonspecific positive staining in the kidney parenchyma [8]. Moreover, proximal tubules are prone to nonspecific staining of many antibodies due to their in- tense absorptive capacity.
TEM is challenging as numerous ultrastructures (termed viral-like particles) can mimic viruses [14]. For example, multivesicular bodies in podocyte cytoplasm and clathrin-coated endocytosed vesicles in tubular epithelial cells can have the appearance of a viral corona [8, 15]. Several investigations of pre-COVID era biopsies have demonstrated structures morphologically identical to those reported as “SARS-CoV-2 viral particles” [16, 17]. To date, no studies utilizing immunoelectron microscopy for specific viral antigens have been reported.
RNA assays are regarded as the most sensitive and specific but may be limited if the virus is present below the level of detection. RT-PCR requires homogenization of a tissue sample and may report a false positive if blood is not carefully washed out from the sample, such that the test is actually detecting the extracellular circulating virus. Moreover, if tissue samples are obtained at the time of autopsy, the extent of postmortem autolysis and cell degeneration can complicate the interpretation of viral detection assays.
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Conflicting studies published between April and November 2020 have provoked an ongoing debate about whether SARS-CoV-2 causes direct kidney infection (Table 1). Several postmortem studies have reported detection of SARS-CoV-2by electron microscopy, IHC, and/or RNA assays [18–23] (including one medRxiv preprint by Diao et al.). Of note, 2 of these studies utilized the anti-SARS-NP antibody that has raised concerns for a nonspecific signal as discussed above [8]. Puelles et al. [22] provided compel- ling evidence of punctate staining of viral RNA in glomeruli and tubules by in situ hybridization, and their study included multiple SARS-CoV-2 negative controls. The study by Braun et al. [20] demonstrated successful infection of cultured primate kidney tubular epithelial cells, utilizing homogenized kidney specimens obtained at the time of autopsy from SARS-CoV-2patients; however, the possibility of virus present within residual blood in the kidney tissue could also explain this observation.
Of note, difficulty interpreting RNA-ISH in autopsy tissue has been reported [5] whereby there is rare tubular positivity in both SARS-CoV-2-positive and -negative patients. Thus, in autopsy tissue, RNA-ISH may show false positives, and the threshold, as well as characteristics for true positive staining, remains to be established.
In contrast, biopsy data from live patients and other autopsy studies have not detected SARS-CoV-2 in the kidney via IHC, RT-PCR, and RNA-ISH [3, 5–11, 15, 24, 25]. It is possible that the absence of virus detection may reflect viral clearing from the kidney as there is frequently a delay between initial SARS-CoV-2 infection and either renal biopsy or autopsy. Nonetheless, the negative reports are more consistent with the fact that SARS-CoV-2 is rarely detected in the urine, and urinary levels do not correlate with the degree of kidney injury [26, 27]. Furthermore, blood levels are also generally low or nondetectable [27]. These data support the notion that the majority of SARS- CoV-2 renal complications likely result from indirect mechanisms, even if a minority of cases may indeed show direct kidney viral infection.
Given this controversy, future studies should utilize rigorous controls including both SARS-CoV-2-positive and -negative tissue. Multimodel detection strategies including IHC, RNA-ISH, and immunoelectron microscopy are warranted. We believe without immunoelectron detection, morphologic evaluation by electron microscopy alone is not sufficient to confirm the presence of viral particles. Fortunately, published validation studies of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies and RNA-ISH are emerging [28] which will help guide the use of appropriate commercially available antibodies and RNA-ISH probes.
Proof of viral replication in human kidney cells remains to be confirmed [29, 30]. Based on the collective evidence, therapies that improve hemodynamic stability and oxygenation, or dampen complement activation, are likely to ameliorate acute kidney injury in COVID-19. At this time, whether inhibition of viral infection and replication directly modulates kidney damage is inconclusive.
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Conflict of Interest Statement
W. L. Lau has received honoraria and/or support from Fresenius, Hub Therapeutics, Roche, Sanofi, and ZS Pharma. J.E. Zuckerman is a paid consultant for Leica Biosystems. A. Gupta has filed 3 provisional patent applications for use of PGD2 and thromboxane A2 antagonists, including ramatroban, as a treatment for CO- VID-19 (Application Nos. 63/003,286 filed on March 31, 2020; 63/005,205 filed on April 3, 2020; and 63/027,751 filed on May 2, 2020). K. Kalantar-Zadeh has received honoraria and/or support from Abbott, Abbvie, ACI Clinical (Cara Therapeutics), Akebia, Alexion, Amgen, Ardelyx, Astra-Zeneca, Aveo, BBraun, Chugai, Cytokinetics, Daiichi, DaVita, Fresenius, Genentech, Haymarket Media, Hospira, Kabi, Keryx, Kissei, Novartis, Pfizer, Regulus, Relypsa, Resverlogix, Sandoz, Sanofi, Shire, Vifor, UpToDate, and ZS Pharma.
a division of Nephrology, Hypertension and Kidney Transplantation, University of California Irvine School of Medicine, Orange, CA, USA;
b Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, David Geffen School of Medicine at University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA
Funding Sources
The authors acknowledge funding from NIH NINDS R01- NS113337 (W.L.L.) and NIH NIDDK K24-DK091419 (K.K.Z.).
Author Contributions
W.L.L. and J.E.Z. drafted the manuscript. W.L.L., J.E.Z., A.G., and K.K.Z. made revisions and approved the final manuscript version.
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