The COVID-19 pandemic is responsible for the death of more than 5.8 million
people worldwide and remains a global public health challenge. COVID-19 is
caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)
which can lead to acute pulmonary symptoms, systemic inflammation (e.g.,
cytokine storm), and induce pathological changes in various other organ systems,
some of which can become chronic and difficult to diagnose and treat.
In this study, we focused on the systematic analysis and comparison of different
human cell types including cardiomyocytes, choroid plexus cells, different neuronal
subtypes, and trophoblast stem cells (TSC) derived from human pluripotent stem
cells (hPSCs) and primary tissue to better understand SARS-CoV-2 infection. The
identification of susceptible human cell types that express native surface receptors
then enabled us to perform high-throughput screening and identify drugs that
showed antiviral activity. We propose that the combined use of relevant human cell
types generated at scale from iPSCs, and drug repurposing may become a key
strategy for developing new urgently needed treatments for SARS-CoV-2
infections.