Rüdiger Groß, Hanna Reßin, Pascal von Maltitz, Dan Albers, Laura Schneider, Hanna Bley, Markus Hoffmann, Mirko Cortese, Dhanu Gupta, Miriam Deniz, Jae-Yeon Choi, Jenny Jansen, Christian Preußer, Kai Seehafer, Stefan Pöhlmann, Dennis R Voelker, Christine Goffinet, Elke Pogge-von Strandmann, Uwe Bunz, Ralf Bartenschlager, Samir El Andaloussi, Konstantin M J Sparrer, Eva Herker, Stephan Becker, Frank Kirchhoff, Jan Münch, Janis A Müller
Some viruses are rarely transmitted orally or sexually despite their presence in saliva, breast milk, or semen. We previously identified that extracellular vesicles (EVs) in semen and saliva inhibit Zika virus infection. However, the antiviral spectrum and underlying mechanism remained unclear. Here we applied lipidomics and flow cytometry to show that these EVs expose phosphatidylserine (PS). By blocking PS receptors, targeted by Zika virus in the process of apoptotic mimicry, they interfere with viral attachment and entry...
March 25, 2024: Nature Microbiology