title: Cellular responses to Sindbis virus infection of neural progenitors derived from human embryonic stem cells.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Sindbis virus (SINV) causes age-dependent encephalitis in mice, and therefore serves as a model to study viral encephalitis. SINV is used as a vector for the delivery of genes into selected neural stem cell lines; however, the toxicity and side effects of this vector have rarely been discussed. In this context, we investigated the cellular responses of human embryonic stem cell (hESCs) derived neural progenitors (hNPCs) to SINV infection by assessing susceptibility of the cells to SINV infection, analyzing the effect of infection on cell proliferation and cell death, and examining the impact of SINV infection on hNPCs markers of stemness.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We found that hNPCs are highly susceptible to SINV infection. Upon infection, the viruses induced apoptosis to hNPCs while not affecting the expression of cell proliferation markers. Lastly, SINV infections result in significant changes in the expression of key regulators of hNPCs' plasticity and homeostasis.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The robust and versatile signaling, proliferation, and other cell responses of hESCs-derived hNPCs to virus infection demonstrated that it is a good model to study the pathogenesis of viral-induced neurodevelopmental and degenerative diseases. On the other hand, the toxicity of SINV to hNPCs cells cannot be ignored, and therefore extra care should be taken when using SINV as a vector to deliver genes into human stem cell lines.
authors.forename: Jie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Rodney J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Nash
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA, USA. tfrey@gsu.edu.
authors.forename: Teryl K
authors.initials: TK
authors.lastname: Frey
mesh_terms: D018354:Alphavirus Infections / Q000473:pathology* / Q000821:virology*; D000818:Animals; D017209:Apoptosis; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000378:metabolism; D015153:Blotting, Western; D059447:Cell Cycle Checkpoints; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D053595:Embryonic Stem Cells / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D007249:Inflammation / Q000473:pathology; D051379:Mice; D039902:Multipotent Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology; D064231:Nestin / Q000378:metabolism; D058953:Neural Stem Cells / Q000473:pathology* / Q000821:virology*; D010641:Phenotype; D015398:Signal Transduction; D012845:Sindbis Virus / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D064231:Nestin