An emergency study has identified what could be a biological link between Zika virus and a rare birth defect that leaves newborns with undersized heads and brains.
Researchers report after working— sometimes around the clock with lab-grown cells over the past month, that Zika attacks the type of cell that forms the brain’s cortex, or outer layer. The virus makes those cells more likely to die and less likely to divide normally and make new brain cells. The findings appear in the journal Cell Stem Cell.
“While this study doesn’t definitely prove that Zika virus causes microcephaly,” says Guo-li Ming of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, “it’s very telling that the cells that form the cortex are potentially susceptible to the virus, and their growth could be disrupted by the virus.”
Ming, a professor of neurology, neuroscience, and psychiatry and behavioral science at Johns Hopkins’ Institute for Cell Engineering, led the research with Hongjun Song, a neuroscientist at Johns Hopkins, and Hengli Tang, a virologist at Florida State University.Paper:http://www.cell.com/cell-stem-cell/fulltext/S1934-5909(16)00106-5
Source:http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/news/media/releases/likely_biological_link_found_between_zika_virus_microcephaly
Corina Marinescu
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