Enterovirus 71 infects brain-derived neural progenitor cells

Neural progenitor cells (NPCs) are stem cells that can differentiate into various neural lineage cells. The damage and loss of NPCs are associated with neurological conditions such as cognitive deficits and memory impairment. In a long-term study of patients with EV71, cognitive disorders were observed. Therefore, we hypothesized that NPCs may be permissive to EV71 infection. We demonstrated that NPCs are prone to EV71 infection and that these stem cells can support the active replication of this virus. Furthermore, EV71 infection triggers apoptosis, resulting in significant cell death in infected NPCs. However, EV71 did not replicate in the differentiated cell types that were tested. Our findings suggest that EV71 can infect NPCs and cause the depletion of these cells.