Recapitulating dengue virus infection with human pluripotent stem cell-derived liver organoids for antiviral screening.

ABSTRACT: Dengue virus (DENV) poses a major global health threat, affecting an estimated 100 to 400 million people annually. The infection and pathogenesis remain incompletely understood, and no antiviral drug is currently approved for DENV treatment. Here, we develop a human pluripotent stem cell (hPSC)-derived liver organoid (hPLO) model to characterize DENV infection and screen for antivirals. The hPLOs, containing various liver cell types, are highly susceptible to DENV-2 infection, resulting in severe cell death and morphological changes that mimic the pathology observed in severe dengue cases. Single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) of DENV-2 infected hPLOs reveals that proliferating hepatocyte-like cells are the primary target cells of DENV-2, with significant mitochondrial damage and alterati

SUBMITTER: Li MQ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12394640 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature