SARS-CoV-2 S-protein expression drives syncytia formation in endothelial cells
Journal: Scientific Reports
Year: 2025

SARS-CoV-2 is a viral infection, best studied in the context of epithelial cell infection. Epithelial cells, when infected with SARS-CoV-2 express the viral S-protein, which causes host cells to fuse together into large multi-nucleated cells known as syncytia. Because SARS-CoV-2 infections also frequently present with cardiovascular phenotypes, we sought to understand if S-protein expression would also result in syncytia formation in endothelial cells. S-protein expression in endothelial cells w