The ZIKAlliance project, coordinated by the National Institute for Health and Medical Research (Inserm) aims to characterize the clinical aspects of infection by Zika virus, responsible for severe neurological diseases and congenital microcephaly in the foetus.
As part of this project, researchers have discovered one of the keys that allows the virus to infect cells of the nervous system. It is a protein (the Axl protein) that facilitates entry of Zika in the brain and which, when activated, decreases the immune response, promoting infection.
A first step in understanding neurological complications
In an article published in the journal Cell report, the team of Ali Amara, Inserm research director at Unit 944 “Pathology and molecular virology” at Inserm, describes this mechanism, which constitutes a major step in understanding the neurological complications of infection. The inhibition of this Axl pathway could represent a potential therapeutic target, even if the possible side effects associated with its blockage remain to be identified.
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