A cross-consortia Data Sharing session took place at the Instituto Pedro Kouri in Havana, Cuba, on 11 August 2017. As part of the collaborative effort being pursued by 3 EU-funded Zika Consortia (ZIKAction, ZIKAlliance, and ZikaPLAN) on data harmonisation and data sharing, the meeting was an important opportunity to advance the ongoing work and update participants about the work done so far.
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Today, the Ethics Committee of the Padua University Hospital has formally approved the ex vivo studies planned within the ZIKA-PATHO work package.
Structural investigation of C6/36 and Vero cell cultures infected with a Brazilian Zika virus
Sep 12, 2017
By Barreto-Vieira DF, Jacome FC, da Silva MAN, et al.
Zika virus (ZIKV) is a member of the flavivirus genus, and its genome is approximately 10.8 kilobases of positive-strand RNA enclosed in a capsid and surrounded by a membrane. Studies on the replication dynamics of ZIKV are scarce, which limits the development of antiviral agents and vaccines directed against ZIKV. In this study, Aedes albopictus mosquito lineage cells (C6/36 cells) and African green monkey kidney epithelial cells (Vero cells) were inoculated with a ZIKV sample isolated from a Brazilian patient, and the infection was characterized by immunofluorescence staining, phase contrast light microscopy, transmission electron microscopy and real-time RT-PCR. The infection was observed in both cell lineages, and ZIKV particles were observed inside lysosomes, the rough endoplasmic reticulum and viroplasm-like structures. The susceptibility of C6/36 and Vero cells to ZIKV infection was demonstrated. Moreover, this study showed that part of the replicative cycle may occur within viroplasm-like structures, which has not been previously demonstrated in other flaviviruses.
Published in: PLoS One. 2017;12(9):e0184397.
Zika genomics urgently need standardized and curated reference sequences
Sep 07, 2017
By Theys K, Libin P, Dallmeier K, et al.
In this letter, the authors address the need for curation and standardized annotation of ZIKV reference genomes in order to guide researchers and clinicians in genomic analyses and the translation of research findings.
Published in: PLoS Pathog. 2017;13(9):e1006528
On July 11th to 14th the REDe team organized a series of workshops addressed to healthcare workers involved in all levels of clinical care, with the aim of supporting the ongoing ZIKA studies in Brazil. Among the visited sites,
Diagnostics for the vertical transmission and paediatric studies. An article by Eleni Nastouli
Aug 09, 2017
The main focus of our group has been the optimisation of the current algorithm for testing pregnant women and their infants recruited in the ZIKAction studies. We started recruitment in Jamaica which is exciting and in order to answer the questions around vertical transmission in symptomatic and asymptomatic women at a given site and at a given time we were faced with challenging dilemmas around the optimal sampling protocol and importantly the optimal testing strategy for arbovirus infections (Zika, dengue and chikungunya).
Information nowadays is the most precious element for the success of any activity as we all know. In order to optimize the activities of ZIKAction in Brazil, the project management team organized a Brazilian counterpart led by me, Daniel Lang, and including local project managers Ana Carolina Gomes and Heloisa Setta.
Submission of the ex vivo human placental study to the Ethics Committee of Padova hospital
Aug 01, 2017
The study protocol will be discussed during the Ethics Committee session at the end of July: approval expected by early September.
Soon afterwards, Francesco Bonfante will start the ex vivo infection of placental explants, at the IZSVe, virology laboratory directed by Calogero (Lillo) Terregino.
Antibody-based assay discriminates Zika virus infection from other flaviviruses
Aug 01, 2017
By Balmaseda A, Stettler K, Medialdea-Carrera R, Collado D, Jin X, Zambrana JV, Jaconi S, Cameroni E, Saborio S, Rovida F, Percivalle E, Ijaz S, Dicks S, Ushiro-Lumb I, Barzon L, Siqueira P, Brown DWG, Baldanti F, Tedder R, Zambon M, de Filippis AMB, Harris E, Corti D.
Zika virus (ZIKV) is a mosquito-borne flavivirus that emerged recently as a global health threat, causing a pandemic in the Americas. ZIKV infection mostly causes mild disease, but is linked to devastating congenital birth defects and Guillain-Barré syndrome in adults. The high level of cross-reactivity among flaviviruses and their cocirculation has complicated serological approaches to differentially detect ZIKV and dengue virus (DENV) infections, accentuating the urgent need for a specific and sensitive serological test.
Published in: Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2017Aug 1;114(31):8384-8389.
