Characterization and treatment of SARS-CoV-2 in nasal and bronchial human airway epithelia

A clinically isolated SARS-CoV-2 was infected to human airway epithelial cells derived from nasal and bronchial specimens. The immune responses against in vitro infection of SARS-CoV-2 were different between nasal and bronchial cells. Nuclear factor kappa B and TNF-alpha pathways were mostly unchanged throughout the infection in bronchial cells, whereas those were up-regulated in nasal cells, suggesting the difference between viral infection in the lower and upper respiratory tracts. Moreover, using these cells model, the effectiveness of treatment with remdesiver and diltiazem, an anti-hypertensive drug for the inhibition of SARS-CoV-2 was confirmed.