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. 2021 Oct 30;18(1):398. doi: 10.1007/s12015-021-10293-w

Comment on “Stress Decreases Host Viral Resistance and Increases Covid Susceptibility in Embryonic Stem Cells”

Milad Zandi 1,2, Parisa Zeynali 3, Ali Rahmani 4, Emad Behboudi 5,✉
PMCID: PMC8556841  PMID: 34716877

Dear editor

We read with interest a published article by Mohammed Abdulhasan which is published in Stem Cell Reviews and Reports [1]. This article has described the role of stress in host viral resistance and susceptibility to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in embryonic stem cells [1].

The authors used COVID-19 as the name of virus, also in this article mistakenly called the SARS-CoV, as COVID-1 and called SARS-CoV-2, as COVID-2 or SARS2. Furthermore, the authors reported coronaviruses have a large genome of 30mb, 3 open reading frames producing 29 proteins, and genomic proof reading [1]. However, according scientific evidence the genome of these coronaviruses is approximately 30 kb. In addition, the authors stated that, of the 7 total and 3 severe human coronaviruses (Cov1, Cov2, MERS), only Cov2 infects both the upper respiratory tract and lungs [1], although MERS-CoV and SARS-CoV can infect both the upper respiratory tract and lungs [2].

Viruses in Coronaviridae family are considered as enveloped viruses that contain large and single-stranded RNA genomes with ranging in length from 27 to 33 kb [3, 4]. Two overlapping ORFs include ORF1a and ORF1b are translated from the genome and generate polypeptides, which are cleaved into 16 nonstructural proteins. Also, these viruses have several other ORFs to encode structural and accessory proteins [4, 5].

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to appreciate the help of all the participants in this study, especially our colleagues in department of microbiology, Golestan University of Medical Sciences.

Declarations

Authors’ Declaration of Personal Interests

None declared. 

Declaration of Funding Interests

None declared.

Footnotes

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Contributor Information

Milad Zandi, Email: miladzandi416@gmail.com.

Parisa Zeynali, Email: parisazeinali751@gmail.com.

Ali Rahmani, Email: rhmn.ali1996@gmail.com.

Emad Behboudi, Email: emadbehboudi69@gmail.com.

References

  • 1.Abdulhasan M, Ruden X, Rappolee B, Dutta S, Gurdziel K, Ruden DM, Rappolee DA. Stress decreases host viral resistance and increases Covid susceptibility in embryonic stem cells. Stem Cell Reviews and Reports. 2021;21:1–4. doi: 10.1007/s12015-021-10188-w. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 2.Desforges M, Le Coupanec A, Stodola JK, Meessen-Pinard M, Talbot PJ. Human coronaviruses: viral and cellular factors involved in neuroinvasiveness and neuropathogenesis. Virus Research. 2014;19:194145–58. doi: 10.1016/j.virusres.2014.09.011. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 3.Navand, A. H., Soltani, S., Moghadami, M., Hosseini, P., Nasimzadeh, S., & Zandi, M. (2020). Diabetes and coronavirus infections (SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV, and SARS-CoV-2). Journal of Acute Disease, 9(6):244
  • 4.Michel CJ, Mayer C, Poch O, Thompson JD. Characterization of accessory genes in coronavirus genomes. Virology Journal. 2020;17(1):1–3. doi: 10.1186/s12985-020-01402-1. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 5.Behboudi, E., & Hamidi-Sofiani, V. (2020). CD147: A missing key in the corona virus disease-2019 (COVID-19). Payesh (Health Monitor), 19(4):467-8

Articles from Stem Cell Reviews and Reports are provided here courtesy of Nature Publishing Group

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