iScience (Jul 2023)

Integrative systems biology characterizes immune-mediated neurodevelopmental changes in murine Zika virus microcephaly

  • Kimino Fujimura,
  • Amanda J. Guise,
  • Tojo Nakayama,
  • Christoph N. Schlaffner,
  • Anais Meziani,
  • Mukesh Kumar,
  • Long Cheng,
  • Dylan J. Vaughan,
  • Andrew Kodani,
  • Simon Van Haren,
  • Kenneth Parker,
  • Ofer Levy,
  • Ann F. Durbin,
  • Irene Bosch,
  • Lee Gehrke,
  • Hanno Steen,
  • Ganeshwaran H. Mochida,
  • Judith A. Steen

Journal volume & issue
Vol. 26, no. 7
p. 106909

Abstract

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Summary: Characterizing perturbation of molecular pathways in congenital Zika virus (ZIKV) infection is critical for improved therapeutic approaches. Leveraging integrative systems biology, proteomics, and RNA-seq, we analyzed embryonic brain tissues from an immunocompetent, wild-type congenital ZIKV infection mouse model. ZIKV induced a robust immune response accompanied by the downregulation of critical neurodevelopmental gene programs. We identified a negative correlation between ZIKV polyprotein abundance and host cell cycle-inducing proteins. We further captured the downregulation of genes/proteins, many of which are known to be causative for human microcephaly, including Eomesodermin/T-box Brain Protein 2 (EOMES/TBR2) and Neuronal Differentiation 2 (NEUROD2). Disturbances of distinct molecular pathways in neural progenitors and post-mitotic neurons may contribute to complex brain phenotype of congenital ZIKV infection. Overall, this report on protein- and transcript-level dynamics enhances understanding of the ZIKV immunopathological landscape through characterization of fetal immune response in the developing brain.

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