“The suspected link between infection by Zika virus, a re-emerging flavivirus, and microcephaly is an urgent global health concern. The direct target cells of Zika virus in the developing human fetus are not clear. Here [the authors] show that a strain of the Zika virus, MR766, serially passaged in monkey and mosquito cells efficiently infects human neural progenitor cells (hNPCs) derived from induced pluripotent stem cells. Infected human neural progenitor cells further release infectious Zika virus particles. Importantly, Zika virus infection increases cell death and dysregulates cell-cycle progression, resulting in attenuated human neural progenitor cell growth. Global gene expression analysis of infected human neural progenitor cells reveals transcriptional dysregulation, notably of cell-cycle-related pathways. [The] results identify human neural progenitor cells as a direct Zika virus target. In addition, [they] establish a tractable experimental model system to investigate the impact and mechanism of Zika virus on human brain development and provide a platform to screen therapeutic compounds.”
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Tang H, Hammack C, Ogden SC, Wen Z, Qian X, Li Y, Yao B, Shin J, Zhang F, Lee EM, Christian KM, Didier RA, Jun P, Song H and Ming GL: Zika Virus Infects Human Cortical Neural Progenitors and attenuates Their Growth. Cell Stem Cell [Epub ahead of print, March 3, 2016; pii: S1934-5909(16)00106-5. doi: 10.1016/j.stem.2016.02.016].
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http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26952870