Proposal of Model for Evaluation of Viral Kinetics of African/Asian/Brazilian—<i>Zika virus</i> Strains (Step Growth Curve) in Trophoblastic Cell Lines
Márcia Duarte Barbosa,
Anderson Costa,
Paula Prieto-Oliveira,
Robert Andreata-Santos,
Cristina M. Peter,
Paolo M. A. Zanotto,
Luiz Mario Ramos Janini
Affiliations
Márcia Duarte Barbosa
Laboratory of Molecular Evolution and Bioinformatics, Department of Microbiology, Institute of Biosciences, University of São Paulo, São Paulo 05508-000, Brazil
Anderson Costa
Laboratory of Retrovirology, Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Parasitology, Discipline of Microbiology, Federal University of São Paulo, São Paulo 04039-032, Brazil
Paula Prieto-Oliveira
Department of Bioinformatics and Genomics, College of Computing and Informatics, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, 9331 Robert D. Snyder Rd., Charlotte, NC 28223, USA
Robert Andreata-Santos
Laboratory of Retrovirology, Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Parasitology, Discipline of Microbiology, Federal University of São Paulo, São Paulo 04039-032, Brazil
Cristina M. Peter
Laboratory of Retrovirology, Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Parasitology, Discipline of Microbiology, Federal University of São Paulo, São Paulo 04039-032, Brazil
Paolo M. A. Zanotto
Laboratory of Molecular Evolution and Bioinformatics, Department of Microbiology, Institute of Biosciences, University of São Paulo, São Paulo 05508-000, Brazil
Luiz Mario Ramos Janini
Laboratory of Retrovirology, Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Parasitology, Discipline of Microbiology, Federal University of São Paulo, São Paulo 04039-032, Brazil
The Zika virus (ZIKV) epidemic brought new discoveries regarding arboviruses, especially flaviviruses, as ZIKV was described as sexually and vertically transmitted. The latter shows severe consequences for the embryo/fetus, such as congenital microcephaly and deficiency of the neural system, currently known as Congenital ZIKV Syndrome (CZS). To better understand ZIKV dynamics in trophoblastic cells present in the first trimester of pregnancy (BeWo, HTR-8, and control cell HuH-7), an experiment of viral kinetics was performed for African MR766 low passage and Asian-Brazilian IEC ZIKV lineages. The results were described independently and demonstrated that the three placental cells lines are permissive and susceptible to ZIKV. We noticed cytopathic effects that are typical in in vitro viral infection in BeWo and HTR-8. Regarding kinetics, MR766lp showed peaks of viral loads in 24 and 48 hpi for all cell types tested, as well as marked cells death after peak production. On the other hand, the HTR-8 lineage inoculated with ZIKV-IEC exhibited increased viral production in 144 hpi, with a peak between 24 and 96 hpi. Furthermore, IEC had peak variations of viral production for BeWo in 144 hpi. Considering such in vitro results, the hypothesis that maternal fetal transmission is probably a way of virus transmission between the mother and the embryo/fetus is maintained.
