Laboratory-grown human cells that are similar to those in the brains of developing fetuses are rapidly infected and killed by Zika virus.

With the disease now spreading across Latin America and the Caribbean, researchers are racing to understand Zika virus and its potential link to microcephaly in fetuses. Hongjun Song and Guo-li Ming at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, along with Hengli Tang at Florida State University in Tallahassee and their team, caused reprogrammed human stem cells to develop into neural progenitor cells, then infected them with Zika virus, which replicated rapidly. After three days, the virus had killed one-third of the cells. Immature neurons were also susceptible to Zika, but to a lesser extent.

Neural progenitor cells could be used to study the virus in the lab and identify treatments, the researchers say.

Cell Stem Cell http://doi.org/bc3w (2016)