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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2024 Aug 21.
Published in final edited form as: Sci Transl Med. 2024 Jul 3;16(754):eadk3295. doi: 10.1126/scitranslmed.adk3295

Figure 6. SARS-CoV-2 single-stranded Spike protein-encoding RNA was identified in recto-sigmoid tissue of individuals with LC months to years following acute infection.

Figure 6.

Panels represent from left to right: SARS-CoV-2 spike protein-encoding RNA staining by ISH in pre-pandemic tissue, SARS-CoV-2 spike protein-encoding RNA staining by ISH in post-acute COVID-19 participant sample, CD68 immunostaining, and CD3 immunostaining. Red arrows denote representative areas of RNA detection across images for each sample (not all RNA detection is marked). Spike single-stranded (ss)RNA was detected in all five of the post-acute COVID-19 participants that underwent biopsy from 158 to 676 days following initial COVID-19 symptom onset and signal was primarily observed in cells located within the lamina propria. Four participants with detectable ssRNA in three distinct gut regions are shown, a fifth participant had rare Spike ssRNA detected in only one of three regions imaged. A minority of SARS-CoV-2 ssRNA signal was localized in CD68+ cells and very rarely in CD3+ cells. No viral ssRNA was detected in control tissue from a pre-pandemic participant.