Isabelle Salmon, Fiorella Calabrese, Arnault Tauziède-Espariat, Homa Adle-Biassette, Marie-Christine Copin, Francesco Fortarezza, Thierry Passeron, Paul Hofman, COPIN, Marie-Christine, Hôpital Pasteur [Nice] (CHU), Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Nice (CHU Nice), Université Côte d'Azur (UCA), FHU OncoAge - Pathologies liées à l’âge [CHU Nice] (OncoAge), Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut de Pharmacologie Moléculaire et Cellulaire [UNIV Côte d'Azur] (UPMC)-Université Côte d'Azur (UCA), Innate Immunity and Immunotherapy (CRCINA-ÉQUIPE 7), Centre de Recherche en Cancérologie et Immunologie Nantes-Angers (CRCINA), Université d'Angers (UA)-Université de Nantes (UN)-Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Centre hospitalier universitaire de Nantes (CHU Nantes)-Université d'Angers (UA)-Université de Nantes (UN)-Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Centre hospitalier universitaire de Nantes (CHU Nantes), Centre Hospitalier Universitaire d'Angers (CHU Angers), PRES Université Nantes Angers Le Mans (UNAM), GHU Paris Psychiatrie et Neurosciences, Centre Hospitalier Sainte Anne [Paris], Assistance publique - Hôpitaux de Paris (AP-HP) (AP-HP), Hôpital Lariboisière-Fernand-Widal [APHP], Università degli Studi di Padova = University of Padua (Unipd), Hôpital Archet 2 [Nice] (CHU), and Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB)
International audience; The infection due to the SARS-CoV-2 leads lesions mainly observed at the respiratory tract level, but not exclusively. The analyses of these lesions benefited from different autopsy studies. Thus, these lesions were observed in different organs, tissues and cells. These observations allowed us to rapidly improve the knowledge of the pathophysiological mechanisms associated with this emergent infectious disease. The virus can be detected in formalin fixed paraffin embedded tissues using immunohistochemistry, in situ hybridization, molecular biology and/or electron microscopy approaches. However, many uncertainties are still present concerning the direct role of the SARS-CoV-2 on the different lesions observed in different organs, outside the lung, such as the heart, the brain, the liver, the gastrointestinal tract, the kidney and the skin. In this context, it is pivotal to keep going to increase the different tissue and cellular studies in the COVID-19 positive patients aiming to better understanding the consequences of this new infectious disease, notably considering different epidemiological and co-morbidities associated factors. This could participate to the development of new therapeutic strategies too. The purpose of this review is to describe the main histological and cellular lesions associated with the infection due to the SARS-CoV-2.