Qian Xuyu, Nguyen Ha Nam, Jacob Fadi, Song Hongjun, Ming Guo-Li
Institute for Cell Engineering, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA.
Biomedical Engineering Graduate Program, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA.
Development. 2017 Mar 15;144(6):952-957. doi: 10.1242/dev.140707.
Technologies to differentiate human pluripotent stem cells into three-dimensional organized structures that resemble organs are pushing the frontiers of human disease modeling and drug development. In response to the global health emergency posed by the Zika virus (ZIKV) outbreak, brain organoids engineered to mimic the developing human fetal brain have been employed to model ZIKV-induced microcephaly. Here, we discuss the advantages of brain organoids over other model systems to study development and highlight recent advances in understanding ZIKV pathophysiology and its underlying pathogenesis mechanisms. We further discuss perspectives on overcoming limitations of current organoid systems for their future use in ZIKV research.
将人类多能干细胞分化为类似器官的三维组织结构的技术正在推动人类疾病建模和药物开发的前沿。为应对寨卡病毒(ZIKV)爆发带来的全球卫生紧急情况,经工程改造以模拟发育中的人类胎儿大脑的脑类器官已被用于建立ZIKV诱导的小头畸形模型。在此,我们讨论脑类器官相对于其他模型系统在研究发育方面的优势,并强调在理解ZIKV病理生理学及其潜在发病机制方面的最新进展。我们还进一步讨论了克服当前类器官系统的局限性以使其未来用于ZIKV研究的前景。