Journal
SCIENCE TRANSLATIONAL MEDICINE
Volume 10, Issue 426, Pages -Publisher
AMER ASSOC ADVANCEMENT SCIENCE
DOI: 10.1126/scitranslmed.aao7090
Keywords
-
Categories
Funding
- NIH [K08 AR070918, R21 EY027870, R01 HD075665, R01AI081759, R01 AI073755, R01 AI104972, R01 HD091218, R25 GM103757, U19 AI083019]
- Mid-America Transplant Foundation
- Children's Discovery Institute
- Rheumatology Research Foundation
- Burroughs Wellcome Fund Investigators in Pathogenesis of Infectious Disease Award
- Washington University Chancellor's Graduate Fellowship Program
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Although Zika virus (ZIKV) infection in pregnant women can cause placental damage, intrauterine growth restriction, microcephaly, and fetal demise, these disease manifestations only became apparent in the context of a large epidemic in the Americas. We hypothesized that ZIKV is not unique among arboviruses in its ability to cause congenital infection. To evaluate this, we tested the capacity of four emerging arboviruses [West Nile virus (WNV), Powassan virus (POWV), chikungunya virus (CHIKV), and Mayaro virus (MAYV)] from related (flavivirus) and unrelated (alphavirus) genera to infect the placenta and fetus in immunocompetent, wild-type mice. Although all four viruses caused placental infection, only infection with the neurotropic flaviviruses (WNV and POWV) resulted in fetal demise. WNV and POWV also replicated efficiently in second-trimester human maternal (decidua) and fetal (chorionic villi and fetal membrane) explants, whereas CHIKV and MAYV replicated less efficiently. In mice, RNA in situ hybridization and histopathological analysis revealed that WNV infected the placenta and fetal central nervous system, causing injury to the developing brain. In comparison, CHIKV and MAYV did not cause substantive placental or fetal damage despite evidence of vertical transmission. On the basis of the susceptibility of human maternal and fetal tissue explants and pathogenesis experiments in immunocompetent mice, other emerging neurotropic flaviviruses may share with ZIKV the capacity for transplacental transmission, as well as subsequent infection and injury to the developing fetus.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available