Zika virus (green) infects human neural progenitors and leads to cell death (red).SARAH C. OGDENLaboratory-grown human neural progenitor cells, which can give rise to the kind of neurons and glia found in the brain, can be infected and killed by a strain of Zika virus, according to a report published today (March 4) in Cell Stem Cell. The study, albeit preliminary, offers the first suggestion of how Zika infection of pregnant women might lead to microcephaly in their babies.
“The study demonstrates that human neuron-like cells can be infected with Zika virus and that infection leads to death and reduced growth of the infected cells,” said microbiologist and immunologist Andrew Pekosz of Johns Hopkins University who was not involved in the study. “This is important because this may be a way to study the damage induced directly by infection.”
The number of infants born with microcephaly—a neurological condition in which the brain and skull fail to grow at a normal pace—have risen dramatically in Brazil since late 2015. An outbreak of Zika virus infections in the country last year is strongly suspected to be the cause, but while the virus has been detected in the amniotic fluid of two babies and the brain tissue ...
