Retinal Organoids: An Innovative New Model for Herpes Simplex Virus Type-1 Ocular Infection

Abstract

Herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) is a virus primarily associated with development of cold sores around the mouth that affects over 3.7 billion individuals worldwide. Little is currently understood about the mechanisms of its lesser-known capability for ocular infection, which in immunocompromised patients often leads to disease and blindness. Retinal infections are a growing cause of concern due to their severity and difficulty to treat, but preliminary data suggests Muller glial cells show resistance to infection. Due to current rodent models being a poor representation of human retinal infection, we established a human retinal organoids (RO) model for studying HSV-1 infection of the retina. Retinal organoids are highly structured 3D cellular assemblies that closely resemble the tissue structure of a developing human eye. Using this model, we aim to explore immune responses to viral infection in the retina by employing scRNA sequencing to 1) identify different retinal cell type and 2) profile cell type specific immune responses during HSV-1 infection.