{
  "abstract": "2022-2024 saw a major outbreak of midge-borne Oropouche virus (OROV, Peribunyaviridae) that affected Brazil and countries across the region and was associated with a novel reassortant of this pathogen. The description of fetal deaths, microcephaly and congenital malformations in newborns led to the question whether such pathologies had previously been overlooked or are associated with novel properties of reassortant OROV, raising the question of infection and transfer across the placenta. Here we compared infection of cultured placental cell lines (BeWo and JEG-3) with an earlier OROV isolate and a Cuban isolate from 2024. Our data suggest minor, but noticeable differences between these OROV and respective host cell responses, for example relating to IFNL3. It remains to be investigated whether characteristics of these different isolates translate to effects on fetal development, but these findings suggest that cellular responses can differ between ancestral and recent isolates of this virus. Author summary: Oropouche virus (OROV) is a midge-borne human pathogenic orthobunyavirus that caused an unexpected, large outbreak around 2022–2024 in Brazil and other parts of the region. This was linked to a novel reassortant, e.g., a virus whose genome is a new combination of the three negative strand RNA segments that make up the viral genome. During this outbreak, OROV infection was associated with occasional cases of fetal death, microcephaly and congenital malformations in newborns which had not been described before. This raised the question whether this reassortant OROV had properties different from other OROV, including infection of the placenta and from there the fetus. Here we compared an ancestral and a recent OROV to assess their ability to infect placental cell and induction host responses. While differences were generally minor, some noticeable changes may be relevant to understand the pathogenesis of this infection.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "Department of Medicine, Institute of Infection and Immunity, St George’s School of Health and Medical Sciences, City St George’s, University of London, London, United Kingdom",
    "Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Centre for Neglected Tropical Diseases, Departments of Tropical Disease Biology and Vector Biology, Liverpool, United Kingdom",
    "Department of Molecular and Biomedical Sciences, Cardiovascular and Genomics Research Institute, St George’s School of Health and Medical Sciences, City St George’s, University of London, London, United Kingdom",
    "The Pirbright Institute, Ash Road, Pirbright (Woking), United Kingdom",
    "MRC-University of Glasgow Centre for Virus Research, Glasgow, United Kingdom",
    "The Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas, United States of America",
    "World Reference Center for Emerging Viruses and Arboviruses, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas, United States of America",
    "Harris Research Centre, Department of Women’s and Children’s Health, University of Liverpool, United Kingdom",
    "Liverpool Women’s Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, Liverpool, United Kingdom",
    "Institute of Reproductive and Developmental Biology, Department of Metabolism, Digestion, and Reproduction, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom"
  ],
  "article_type": "Research Article",
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 13,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Katie A. Latham"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1
      ],
      "name": "Georgia Brassington"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        2
      ],
      "name": "Alan M. Pittman"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        3
      ],
      "name": "Isabelle Dietrich"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        4
      ],
      "name": "Joseph Hughes"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        5
      ],
      "name": "Yvette Kazungu"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        6
      ],
      "name": "Jessica A. Plante"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        7
      ],
      "name": "Kenneth S. Plante"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        8
      ],
      "name": "Andrew Sharp"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        9
      ],
      "name": "Benjamin Brennan"
    },
    {
      "name": "Beth Holder"
    },
    {
      "name": "Blair L. Strang"
    },
    {
      "name": "Alain Kohl"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/5c917rj9hnpsh.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.1371/journal.pntd.0014593",
  "fulltext_url": "https://journals.plos.org/plosntds/article?id=10.1371/journal.pntd.0014593",
  "id": "5c917rj9hnpsh",
  "issns": [
    "1935-2735"
  ],
  "landing_url": "https://journals.plos.org/plosntds/article?id=10.1371/journal.pntd.0014593",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "CC-BY-4.0",
  "licence_label": "CC BY 4.0",
  "licence_source": "journal",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "openalex",
      "2725|Viral Infections and Vectors"
    ],
    [
      "plos",
      "/Biology and life sciences/Biochemistry/Proteins/Interferons"
    ],
    [
      "plos",
      "/Biology and life sciences/Developmental biology/Embryology/Blastocysts/Trophoblasts"
    ],
    [
      "plos",
      "/Biology and life sciences/Genetics/Gene expression"
    ],
    [
      "plos",
      "/Biology and life sciences/Genetics/Genomics/Microbial genomics/Viral genomics"
    ],
    [
      "plos",
      "/Biology and life sciences/Immunology/Immune response"
    ],
    [
      "plos",
      "/Biology and life sciences/Microbiology/Microbial genomics/Viral genomics"
    ],
    [
      "plos",
      "/Biology and life sciences/Microbiology/Virology/Viral genomics"
    ],
    [
      "plos",
      "/Biology and life sciences/Microbiology/Virology/Viral replication"
    ],
    [
      "plos",
      "/Biology and life sciences/Molecular biology/Molecular biology techniques/Sequencing techniques/RNA sequencing"
    ],
    [
      "plos",
      "/Medicine and health sciences/Immunology/Immune response"
    ],
    [
      "plos",
      "/Research and analysis methods/Molecular biology techniques/Sequencing techniques/RNA sequencing"
    ],
    [
      "plos",
      "/Research and analysis methods/Spectrum analysis techniques/Spectrophotometry/Cytophotometry/Flow cytometry"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7213921964",
  "pdf_url": "https://journals.plos.org/plosntds/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pntd.0014593&type=printable",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-09-21",
  "publisher": "Public Library of Science",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/5c917rj9hnpsh.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:17:43Z",
      "native_id": "10.1371/journal.pntd.0014593",
      "source": "plos",
      "url": "https://journals.plos.org/plosntds/article?id=10.1371/journal.pntd.0014593"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "biochemistry",
      "origin": "plos:gene expression",
      "subfield": "molecular-biology"
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    {
      "field": "biology",
      "origin": "plos:immunology",
      "subfield": "immunology"
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    {
      "field": "biology",
      "origin": "plos:microbiology",
      "subfield": "microbiology"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Comparative analysis of host responses to Oropouche viruses in placental cell infection models",
  "title_text": "Comparative analysis of host responses to Oropouche viruses in placental cell infection models",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:17:43Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/5c917rj9hnpsh",
  "venue": "PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases",
  "versions": []
}