Parechovirus infection in human brain organoids: host innate inflammatory response and not neuro-infectivity correlates to neurologic disease

Summary

Picornaviruses are a leading cause of central nervous system (CNS) infections. While genotypes such as parechovirus A3 (PeV-A3) and echovirus 11 (E11) can elicit severe neurological disease, the highly prevalent PeV-A1 is not associated with CNS disease. Here, we expand our current understanding of these differences in PeV-A CNS disease using human brain organoids and clinical isolates of the two PeV-A genotypes. Our data indicate that PeV-A1 and A3 specific differences in neurological disease are not due to infectivity of CNS cells as both viruses productively infect brain organoids with a similar cell tropism. Proteomic analysis shows that PeV-A infection significantly alters the host cell metabolism. The inflammatory response following PeV-A3 (and E11 infection) is significantly more potent than that upon PeV-A1 infection. Collectively, our findings align with clinical observations and suggest a role for neuroinflammation, rather than viral replication, in PeV-A3 (and E11) infection. © 2024. The Author(s).

Authors Capendale PE, García-Rodríguez I, Ambikan AT, Mulder LA, Depla JA, Freeze E, Koen G, Calitz C, Sood V, Vieira de Sá R, Neogi U, Pajkrt D, Sridhar A, Wolthers KC
Journal Nature communications
Publication Date 2024 Mar 21;15(1):2532
PubMed 38514653
PubMed Central PMC10958052
DOI 10.1038/s41467-024-46634-9

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