IMMUNOHISTOCHEMICAL TISSUE EXPRESSION ANALYSIS OF CONNEXIN-43 IN KIDNEY SAMPLES FROM SARS-CoV-2 POSITIVE PATIENTS

Abstract

In the 21st century, the world was hit by the influenza A H1N1 virus, and a few years later, a new viral strain developed, SARS-CoV-2, which became known as the COVID-19 virus. The virus is systemic, affecting various organs during infection, including the kidneys. Among the endothelial components that act in cellular coordination, Connexin-43 was chosen as the object of study for this project. Objectives: The objective was to study the tissue expression of Connexin-43 in samples from patients who died from COVID-19 and compare its expression with a control group. Materials and methods: The first samples were obtained through post-mortem biopsies, in which COVID-19 infection was confirmed. Eighteen samples were collected and compared to a control group of 22 samples. The samples were analyzed using software that generated thousands of images through random cuts. From these, 20 images from each sample were randomly selected. After obtaining these images, another software (Image-Pro Plus version 4.5) was used to quantify the expression of Connexin-43 in each cut, and this expression was compared with the control group. Results: The results obtained were 37.2% for the control samples and 21.3% for the COVID group samples. Thus, there was a 15.9% reduction in expression between the control and COVID groups. Conclusion: The expression of Connexin-43 in patients who died from COVID-19, although elevated in respiratory tract samples in other studies, was found to be decreased in the renal system. This can be explained by the environment created by the virus. Because it is an environment permeated by hypoxia and inflammation, the kidneys underwent necrosis and the expression of Connexin-43 naturally decreased. Although not mirroring the pattern found in the respiratory system, the result aids in understanding kidney damage caused by SARS-CoV-2, enabling further studies in the area to identify potential therapeutic targets.