New model analyzing viral mechanisms- a potential new chapter in viral disease treatment

-Sampriti Roy, Asutosh College, University of Calcutta.

“As a result of this unique human viral expression system based on stem cells, it will now be possible to simulate a large number of diseases in their progression and, for the first time, analyse them with the utmost precision”, said Guiscard Seebohm, delighted at the success of the novel model that his team at Münster University has designed that is meant to be a significant leap in the research of viral diseases and which is already showing promising results.

Motivated by the lack of research in the field of viral mechanisms of action as well as the presence of limited standardized vaccines and strategies for treatment to combat only a few viruses, Professor Guiscard Seebohm and his team have presently made revolutionary developments in the same fields.  There is now a viral expression model which can be used to stimulate and analyse a large number of viral infections- including the one responsible for the current pandemic- SARS-CoV-2.

Till date, in vitro experiments were done by using infectious virus particles. These particles require an appropriately equipped laboratory (often biosafety level 2 or higher) and are potentially harmful to the experimenters. This often limits the possibility of standard laboratories allowed to conduct drug screening, thus leading to lesser screenings. To overcome this limitation and enable research for normally equipped laboratories with Biosafety level 1, the team has developed a human induced pluripotent stem cell (hiPSC) line that can create viral genes but not create infectious virus particles.

The study:

To get to the bottom of the still many unclear definitions of viral mechanisms of action, the team at Münster University developed an expression model for Coxsackievirus (CVB3) based on stem cells- the virus being a prototype for the effects of viruses in general.

With the proven significant controllability of the system, the team of researchers were able to obtain a stable integration of genetic information from a non-infectious variant of CVB3 into the genetic material in human stem cells. It is owing to this virtue of controllability of the system (observed when tested in heart muscles cultured from stem cells) that the extent of viral infections, the pattern of infection and time progression observed can be adapted to a variety of topics of research.

What this method means for the future:

With the generation of a CVB3DVP0‑expressing hiPS‑cell line, the production of the premier fully controllable viral expression model in human cells, patient transferability and the advances in its functionality, a great deal for future research is being achieved.  Not only will there be a proven advance in examining viruses like CVB3, SARS-CoV-2, influenza ad others of the like, but also this method means that the boundaries of research have now extended a great deal.

With follow up studies on the controlled expression of CVB3 in hiPSC already underway, viral mechanism study and the subsequently, the research for finding cures and more efficient screenings seem to hold a lot more advanced and promising results shortly.

Source:

Peischard, S., Ho, H.T., Piccini, I. et al. The first versatile human iPSC-based model of ectopic virus induction allows new insights in RNA-virus disease. Sci Rep 10, 16804 (2020); DOI: http://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-72966-9

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