Zika virus tropism during early infection of the testicular interstitium and its role in viral pathogenesis in the testes.

ABSTRACT: Sexual transmission and persistence of Zika virus (ZIKV) in the testes pose new challenges for controlling virus outbreaks and developing live-attenuated vaccines. It has been shown that testicular infection of ZIKV is initiated in the testicular interstitium, followed by spread of the virus in the seminiferous tubules. This leads to testicular damage and/or viral dissemination into the epididymis and eventually into semen. However, it remains unknown which cell types are targeted by ZIKV in the testicular interstitium, and what is the specific order of infectious events leading to ZIKV invasion of the seminiferous tubules. Here, we demonstrate that interstitial leukocytes expressing mir-511-3p microRNA are the initial targets of ZIKV in the testes, and infection of mir-511-3p-expressing c

SUBMITTER: Tsetsarkin KA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7331987 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature