Florida State University Biological Sciences Professor Hengli Tang and Johns Hopkins University Professor of Neurology Guo-Li Ming say they’ve found evidence showing that once the Zika virus reaches the brain of a developing fetus, it infects certain cells, impairing their function.
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According to the findings of a small study, it was found out that foetuses of pregnant women infected with the mosquito-borne Zika virus had a variety of severe birth abnormalities pointing to stronger association between the Zika virus and microcephaly.
While this study does not prove the direct link between Zika and microcephaly, it pinpoints where the virus may be doing the most damage, researchers said.
The new study published this week shows Zika “targets a cell type called human embryonic cortical neural progenitors in as little as three days after being exposed to the virus”, according to a news release from FSU.
The team studied 88 pregnant women who went to a clinic at the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation in Rio de Janeiro with the intention of being tested for the virus. Scientists still lack basic information about Zika, including the rate at which women infected during pregnancy deliver newborns with birth defects.
In the United States alone, there are already 153 travel-associated Zika virus disease cases.
“The take-home message is that this is another important addition to the growing evidence that seems to now be quite compelling of the relationship between infection of pregnant women and the development of congenital abnormalities”, says Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Researchers have identified the mechanism on how the virus infects cells in the brain. But scientists are alarmed by indications that when it infects a pregnant woman, her baby may be born with a small head and a brain that hasn’t developed properly.
The next step will be to determine how exactly the virus moves from the mother to the fetus, to better determine how to treat and prevent the defect, Corley said.
“We would like to see whether we can find ways to block the Zika entry or the action of the Zika virus on the cells”, Ming said.
Brazil, which saw a surge of Zika cases starting late a year ago, has reported a spike in cases of microcephaly. Typical symptoms are mild and include fever, rash, joint soreness and and redness of eyes. The virus has also been linked with high risk of fetal death, as per the study.
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The hNPCs are crucial for the development of the cortex – or outer layer – of fetal brains, and the findings would be consistent with the theory that Zika can cause microcephaly.
