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May 19 2025
3Bats, nature’s only flying mammals, have intrigued researchers for decades due to their remarkable ability to carry deadly viruses—such as Nipah, Ebola, and coronaviruses—without showing signs of illness. Now, a new breakthrough may unlock some of the mysteries behind their resilience. Scientists have created stable bat cell lines that could serve as powerful tools to investigate the unique immune responses of these animals, potentially paving the way for novel antiviral therapies.
“Understanding the differences in how bat cells respond to viruses compared to human cells is essential,” explained virologist Michael Letko of Washington State University. “But to do that, we need those cells growing in the lab.”
Until now, progress in bat virus research has been hindered by the scarcity of accessible, reliable bat cell lines. Although some labs had developed them, few were widely available for the broader scientific community. To address this, Letko and his team developed multiple cell lines using tissues from the Seba’s short-tailed bat, a species known to carry hantaviruses capable of infecting humans. Their findings, published in PLoS Biology, offer a framework for generating and sharing bat cell lines and have already been made publicly available through the National Institutes of Health.
“This work is exceptional,” said Cara Brook, a University of Chicago disease ecologist who studies virus reservoirs in bats. “It provides a valuable roadmap for conducting similar research across different bat species.”
The researchers began by isolating cells from various tissues of the Seba’s short-tailed bat. To enable long-term study, they employed several techniques to immortalize the cells, including boosting telomerase activity to minimize DNA damage, disabling the tumor suppressor gene TP53, and using viral proteins to override cell division controls. These efforts resulted in 11 distinct cell lines.
The next step was to ensure the cell lines could support virus research. As coauthor Arinjay Banerjee of the University of Saskatchewan explained, the goal was to create cells that not only allowed viruses to enter but also mounted an immune response. The team tested the cell lines with components of coronaviruses and filoviruses, assessing their ability to permit infection and respond immunologically.
However, many cell lines lost their infectivity over time in culture. Eventually, the researchers found that kidney-derived cell lines performed best: they remained susceptible to infection with live hantaviruses and viral particles while also activating antiviral gene expression, including cytokine-related responses.
“They thoroughly tested different immortalization techniques and viral interactions,” noted Brook. Still, she cautioned that lab-based systems cannot fully replicate how immune responses function within living animals.
Letko agreed, acknowledging the limitations of cell cultures and revealing the team's next goal—developing bat organoids to create a more accurate model of immune behavior. Banerjee added that while this study focused on just one bat species, the team is already expanding the protocol to other species.
Source:https://www.the-scientist.com/bat-cells-in-a-dish-offer-a-tool-to-study-their-viral-responses-73009
This is non-financial/medical advice and made using AI so could be wrong.
