Local researchers to study why humans are susceptible to the Zika Virus
Professors and researchers at the Paul L. Foster School of Medicine in El Paso are set to receive $420,000 in grant funding from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease to learn more about what makes humans susceptible to the Zika virus.
Zika is a mosquito-borne illness spread mostly by the bite of an infected Aedes species mosquito.
There is currently no vaccine or medicine to fight Zika.
“We don’t have any real understanding of how it causes the signs and symptoms. So being proactive now is in someway is being reactive because we already had a big infection,”said Peter Rotwein, vice president for research at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center El Paso.
The Centers for Disease Control reported 311 cases of Zika this year so far, none of which were reported in El Paso County.
A woman infected with Zika during pregnancy can cause a serious birth defect called microcephaly that is a sign of incomplete brain development.
Rotwein said mosquitoes infected with Zika have a harder time surviving in the climate of this region.
Zika can be transmitted through sex from a person who has Zika to his or her sex partners.
Researchers will try to determine which human genes enable the virus to attack and kill human cells.
The study will include a genome-wide knockout screening, a process that specifically knocks out, or deactivates, each gene in the human genome to identify the genes involved by process of elimination.
As each gene is deactivated, cells will be put to the test and infected with Zika.
The cells that are able to resist and survive the virus’ attack will help identify which genes Zika is harnessing to survive in the human body.
“The goal is to understand what proteins in the body are necessary for Zika to thrive and cause further infection. If we can understand those mechanisms, then we can take steps to interfere with them,” said Rotwein.
Rotwein said the research is crucial to help protect future generations worldwide.
