Figure 7.
Hsp90 inhibition alleviates COVID-19 lung injury in a Syrian hamster model.A, Ad5-N/GFP-transduced hamsters were intranasally infected with 106.5 pfu/mL of SARS-CoV-2 GFP/ΔN virus. Animals were euthanized at 5 days postinfection (dpi) and lungs were harvested. B, photographs of gross pathology in lung specimens isolated from infected hamsters at 5 dpi. C, representative H&E staining of lungs from hamsters. D, histology scores determined from (C). E, qRT–PCR was used to quantify transcripts of key inflammatory factors in cytokine storms: TNF-α, IL-6, and IL-1β. Relative expression of target genes was normalized to GAPDH (n = 4–5 hamsters per group); ∗p ≤ 0.05; ∗∗p ≤ 0.01; n.s.: Not significant. COVID-19, coronavirus disease 2019; Hsp90, heat shock protein 90; SARS-CoV-2, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2.