Indeed, the transcription factors related to neurogenesis, such as Distal-Less homeobox 5 (DLX5) and doublecortin (DCX), both of which are essential for neuronal migration and differentiation [47,48], were significantly reduced mainly during early infection (Fig 4C), which further confirmed the impaired neurogenesis in hNS/PCs. Here, DLX5 is linked to infection.