Researchers Map How Measles Virus Spreads In Human Brain
Published:30 Jan.2024 Source:Mayo Clinic
Mayo Clinic researchers mapped how the measles virus mutated and spread in the brain of a person who succumbed to a rare, lethal brain disease. New cases of this disease, which is a complication of the measles virus, may occur as measles reemerges among the unvaccinated, say researchers.
Using the latest tools in genetic sequencing, researchers at Mayo Clinic reconstructed how a collective of viral genomes colonized a human brain. The virus acquired distinct mutations that drove the spread of the virus from the frontal cortex outward.
"Our study provides compelling data that shows how viral RNA mutated and spread throughout a human organ -- the brain, in this case," says Roberto Cattaneo, Ph.D., a Mayo Clinic virologist who is a co-lead author on a new PLOS Pathogens study.
"Our discoveries will help studying and understanding how other viruses persist and adapt to the human brain, causing disease. This knowledge may facilitate the generation of effective antiviral drugs."