03082nas a2200505   4500000000100000000000100001008003900002260001700041653001600058653001600074653002200090653002700112653002700139653002200166653001800188653004200206100002900248700002900277700001600306700002300322700001700345700001500362700001900377700001600396700001700412700002200429700001500451700001500466700001100481700002200492700001900514700001600533700001600549700001400565700002200579700002000601700002400621700003300645245013000678856008400808300001300892490000700905520165000912022001402562       0                             d  cAug 26, 202510aAndes virus10aCholesterol10aEndothelial Cells10arespiratory infections10aTranscriptome analysis10aViral replication10aViral Tropism10aVirus effects on host gene expression1 aArjit Vijey Jeyachandran1 aJoseph Ignatius Irudayam1 aSwati Dubey1 aNikhil Chakravarty1 aMaria Daskou1 aAnne Zaiss1 aGustavo Garcia1 aBindu Konda1 aAayushi Shah1 aAditi Venkatraman1 aBaolong Su1 aCheng Wang1 aQi Cui1 aKevin J. Williams1 aSonal Srikanth1 aAshok Kumar1 aYanhong Shi1 aArjun Deb1 aRobert Damoiseaux1 aBarry R. Stripp1 aArunachalam Ramaiah1 aVaithilingaraja Arumugaswami00aDifferential tropisms of old and new world hantaviruses influence virulence and developing host-directed antiviral candidates  uhttps://journals.plos.org/plospathogens/article?id=10.1371/journal.ppat.1013401  ae10134010 v213 aHantaviruses are zoonotically transmitted from rodents to humans through the respiratory route, with no currently approved antivirals or widely available vaccines. The recent discovery of interhuman-transmitted Andes virus (ANDV) necessitates the systematic identification of cell tropism, infective potential, and potent therapeutic agents. We utilized human primary lung endothelial cells, various pluripotent stem cell-derived heart and brain cell types, and established human lung organoid models to evaluate the tropisms of Old World Hantaan (HTNV) and New World ANDV and Sin Nombre (SNV) viruses. ANDV exhibited broad tropism for all cell types assessed. SNV readily infected pulmonary endothelial cells, while HTNV robustly amplified in endothelial cells, cardiomyocytes, and astrocytes. We also provide the first evidence of hantaviral infection in human 3D distal lung organoids, which effectively modeled these differential tropisms. ANDV infection transcriptionally promoted cell injury and inflammatory responses, and downregulated lipid metabolic pathways in lung epithelial cells. Evaluation of selected drug candidates and pharmacotranscriptomics revealed that the host-directed small molecule compound urolithin B inhibited ANDV infection and restored cellular metabolism with minimal changes in host transcription. Given the scarcity of academic BSL-4 facilities that enable in vivo hantaviral studies, this investigation presents advanced human cell-based model systems that closely recapitulate host cell tropism and responses to infection, thereby providing critical platforms to evaluate potential antiviral drug candidates.  a1553-7374