A study found that a gene silencing therapy can prevent the transmission of Zika virus from pregnant mice to fetuses
Published in "Molecular Therapy" on November 11
From 2015 to 2017, Zika virus swept the Asia-Pacific region, and it remains a global health threat
The blood-brain barrier is a network of blood vessels and tissues composed of dense cells, which controls the exchange of substances between the central nervous system and the blood, and prevents harmful substances from reaching the brain
"At present, there is no treatment or vaccine against Zika virus
Currently, gene silencing therapy using oligonucleotides shows unique advantages in the clinic, but delivering drugs to cells is still a major challenge
Therefore, Wu Zhiwei's team and collaborators used sEV to pass through the placental barrier to deliver antiviral molecules to inhibit Zika virus infection in mouse fetuses
In order to lock the neurons, the researchers designed sEV expressing rabies virus glycoprotein (RVG) on the surface, loaded it into Zika virus-specific small interfering RNA, and injected it into pregnant mice
The researchers said that RVG-modified sEV can cross the placental barrier and blood-brain barrier to prevent the transmission of Zika virus to the fetus
Moreover, this finding echoes another recent study, which showed that RVG-modified sEV can cross the blood-brain barrier of mice to treat Parkinson's disease
Although the results are encouraging, there are still many problems
Next, the researchers plan to study the molecular mechanism of sEV penetrating the placenta and blood-brain barrier
Related paper information: https://doi.
https://doi.
org/10.
1016/j.
ymthe.
2021.
10.
009
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