Semen inhibits Zika virus infection of cells and tissues from the anogenital region

Janis A. Müller, Mirja Harms, Franziska Krüger, Rüdiger Groß, Simone Joas, Manuel Hayn, Andrea N. Dietz, Sina Lippold, Jens von Einem, Axel Schubert, Manuela Michel, Benjamin Mayer, Mirko Cortese, Karen S. Jang, Nathallie Sandi-Monroy, Miriam Deniz, Florian Ebner, Olli Vapalahti, Markus Otto, Ralf Bartenschlager, Jean-Philippe Herbeuval, Jonas Schmidt-Chanasit, Nadia R. Roan and Jan Münch ()
Additional contact information
Janis A. Müller: Ulm University Medical Center
Mirja Harms: Ulm University Medical Center
Franziska Krüger: Ulm University Medical Center
Rüdiger Groß: Ulm University Medical Center
Simone Joas: Ulm University Medical Center
Manuel Hayn: Ulm University Medical Center
Andrea N. Dietz: Ulm University Medical Center
Sina Lippold: Ulm University Medical Center
Jens von Einem: Ulm University Medical Center
Axel Schubert: Ulm University Medical Center
Manuela Michel: Ulm University Medical Center
Benjamin Mayer: Ulm University
Mirko Cortese: Heidelberg University
Karen S. Jang: Gladstone Institute of Virology and Immunology
Nathallie Sandi-Monroy: Ulm University Medical Center
Miriam Deniz: Ulm University Medical Center
Florian Ebner: Ulm University Medical Center
Olli Vapalahti: University of Helsinki and Helsinki University Hospital
Markus Otto: Ulm University
Ralf Bartenschlager: Heidelberg University
Jean-Philippe Herbeuval: Université Paris Descartes, CICB Paris
Jonas Schmidt-Chanasit: World Health Organization Collaborating Centre for Arbovirus and Hemorrhagic Fever Reference and Research
Nadia R. Roan: Gladstone Institute of Virology and Immunology
Jan Münch: Ulm University Medical Center

Nature Communications, 2018, vol. 9, issue 1, 1-14

Abstract: Abstract Zika virus (ZIKV) causes severe birth defects and can be transmitted via sexual intercourse. Semen from ZIKV-infected individuals contains high viral loads and may therefore serve as an important vector for virus transmission. Here we analyze the effect of semen on ZIKV infection of cells and tissues derived from the anogenital region. ZIKV replicates in all analyzed cell lines, primary cells, and endometrial or vaginal tissues. However, in the presence of semen, infection by ZIKV and other flaviviruses is potently inhibited. We show that semen prevents ZIKV attachment to target cells, and that an extracellular vesicle preparation from semen is responsible for this anti-ZIKV activity. Our findings suggest that ZIKV transmission is limited by semen. As such, semen appears to serve as a protector against sexual ZIKV transmission, despite the availability of highly susceptible cells in the anogenital tract and high viral loads in this bodily fluid.

Date: 2018
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-018-04442-y Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:9:y:2018:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-018-04442-y

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-018-04442-y

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().