title: Human three-dimensional engineered neural tissue reveals cellular and molecular events following cytomegalovirus infection.
abstract: Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) is the most common cause of congenital infection of the central nervous system (CNS). To overcome the limited access to human neural tissue and stringent species specificity of HCMV, we used engineered neural tissues to: (i) provide a technical advance to mimick features of HCMV infection in a human neural fetal tissue in vitro and (ii) characterize the molecular and cellular phenomenon following HCMV infection in this tissue. Herein, we infected hESC-derived engineered neural tissues (ENTs) whose organization resembles fetal brain. Transcriptome analysis of ENTs demonstrated that HCMV infection displayed features of the infection with the expression of genes involved in lipid metabolism, growth and development, as well as stress and host-response in a time-dependent manner. Immunohistochemical analysis demonstrated that HCMV did not firstly infect neural tubes (i.e. radially organized, proliferating stem cell niches), but rather an adjacent side population of post-mitotic cells expressing nestin, doublecortin, Sox1, musashi and vimentin markers. Importantly, we observe the same tropism in naturally HCMV-infected fetal brain specimens. To the best of our knowledge this system represents the first human brain-like tissue able to provide a more physiologically model for studying HCMV infection.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Immuno-hematology, Department of Genetic and Laboratory Medicine, Geneva University Hospital, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland; Department of Pathology and Immunology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Érika
authors.initials: É
authors.lastname: Cosset
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology and Immunology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland; BioTalentum Ltd, Gödöllö 2100, Hungary.
authors.forename: Yannick
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Martinez
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Immuno-hematology, Department of Genetic and Laboratory Medicine, Geneva University Hospital, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Olivier
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Preynat-Seauve
authors.affiliation: Neuropathology Unit, Geneva University Hospital, Geneva, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Johannes-Alexander
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Lobrinus
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Virology, Division of Infectious Diseases and Division of Laboratory Medicine, Geneva University Hospital, University of Geneva Medical School, Geneva, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Caroline
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Tapparel
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Virology, Division of Infectious Diseases and Division of Laboratory Medicine, Geneva University Hospital, University of Geneva Medical School, Geneva, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Samuel
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Cordey
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology and Immunology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Hedi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Peterson
authors.affiliation: Department of Genetic Medicine and Development, University of Geneva Medical School, Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, Geneva, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Tom J
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Petty
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology and Immunology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Marilena
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Colaianna
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology and Immunology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Vannary
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Tieng
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Immuno-hematology, Department of Genetic and Laboratory Medicine, Geneva University Hospital, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland; Department of Pathology and Immunology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Diderik
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Tirefort
authors.affiliation: BioTalentum Ltd, Gödöllö 2100, Hungary; Molecular Animal Biotechnology Laboratory, Szent István University, Gödöllö 2100, Hungary.
authors.forename: Andras
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Dinnyes
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology and Immunology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Michel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Dubois-Dauphin
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Virology, Division of Infectious Diseases and Division of Laboratory Medicine, Geneva University Hospital, University of Geneva Medical School, Geneva, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Laurent
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Kaiser
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology and Immunology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland. Electronic address: Karl-Heinz.Krause@unige.ch.
authors.forename: Karl-Heinz
authors.initials: KH
authors.lastname: Krause
mesh_terms: D002460:Cell Line; D003586:Cytomegalovirus Infections / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D009420:Nervous System / Q000196:embryology* / Q000821:virology; D023822:Tissue Engineering
keywords: Infection; Nerve tissue engineering; Neural cell; Stem cell