Lab-grown stomachs help to shed light on COVID-19 symptoms in children

For the first time, an international team of scientists and doctors have used these advances to develop a lab-grown model of the human stomach. This can be used to study how infections in humans impact the gastrointestinal system.

To do this, researchers isolate stem cells from patient stomach samples, and grow them under special conditions in the lab. This creates mini stomachs in a petri dish that can mimic the behaviour of a human stomach.

This development was pioneered by an international team, representing a collaboration between Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH), UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health (UCL GOS ICH), and the Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale delle Venezie (Legnaro, Italy).

It was led by Dr. Giovanni Giuseppe Giobbe, Prof. Nicola Elvassore and Prof. Paolo De Coppi from UCL GOS ICH, with much of their work carried out in the Zayed Centre for Research into Rare Disease in Children (ZCR). Their co-lead Dr Francesco Bonfante carried out their work from Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale delle Venezie.

As the COVID-19 pandemic progressed and gastrointestinal symptoms began to be reported, particularly in children, the team pivoted their research to focus on the impact of coronavirus (also known as SARS-CoV-2) on the gastrointestinal system, realising that their mini-stomach could be a vital tool for studying this.

The scientists were able to infect the mini stomachs from the outside by exposing the surface of the cells to SARS-CoV-2. From this they showed that SARS-CoV-2 could replicate within the stomach. Importantly, it replicated more noticeably in organoids that were grown from the child and late foetal cells, compared to adult and early foetal cells.

The research team were able to look at the impact of the infection on the cells within the organoids, showing that a specific group of cells, called delta cells that make a hormone called somatostatin, had died, which could explain some of the stomach symptoms seen in patients. The team’s laboratory results mirror the pattern of gastrointestinal symptoms seen in patients of different ages.

The team now plan to continue their work with the mini stomachs aiming to study how the stomach develops from early in pregnancy through to adulthood. They also hope to look at the effects of other common gastrointestinal infections.

The study’s co-lead, a Senior Research Associate at UCL GOS ICH, Dr Giovanni G. Giobbe agreed, “We want to increase our understanding of how infections impact the stomach so that we can further the search for new treatments.

Read the study published by Nature Communications: SARS-CoV-2 infection and replication in human gastric organoids