[Newsdesk] Research brief

Findings from a study done in three pairs of non-identical twins discordant for congenital Zika syndrome suggest that there might be a genetic basis for susceptibility to the disease. Researchers experimentally infected neural progenitor cells derived from these children and saw that cells from children with the syndrome multiplied less —and had more Zika virus in them—than cells from their unaffected sibling. There was no between-sibling difference in uninfected control cells. On sequencing, they detected no gene that solely determined susceptibility, but noted variance in RNA expression of genes associated with neural develop ment, including mTor, the disturbance of the signalling pathway of which has previously been associated with Zika virus infection.
Source: The Lancet Infectious Diseases - Category: Infectious Diseases Authors: Tags: Newsdesk Source Type: research