Pathogenic role of alarmin IL-33 in a mouse model of SARS-CoV-2 infection

Male WT C57BL/6j mice (stock #000664, age 8-10 wks) and IL-33 knockout (KO) mice (B6 background) were anesthetized via isoflurane, followed by the intranasal infection with mouse adapted SARS-CoV-2 CMA3p20 (5×10^5 PFU). Mock mice were administrated with identical volumes of cell culture medium. Lungs were perfused with cold PBS and were harvested at days 2 and 4 post-infection. Lung RNA was isolated by Qiagen RNeasy Kits, followed by the Poly (A) RNA sequencing. We then performed differential expression analysis, meta-analysis, and gene set enrichment anaylsis using data obtained by RNA-seq of mock, IL-33 KO, and WT SARS-CoV-2-infected mice. Overall design: RNA isolated from lungs of SARS-CoV-2-infected mice was and analyzed using RNAseq.