THE ROLE OF INNATE IMMUNE DEFENSE IN THE PATHOGENESIS OF CHIKUNGUNYA VIRUS INFECTION
HER ZHISHENG
HER ZHISHENG
Citations
Altmetric:
Alternative Title
Abstract
Chikungunya fever (CHIKF) has re-emerged as an important human arboviral infection. However, the exact nature of the protective immune defense and the pathogenic mechanisms of debilitating arthralgia and arthritis upon Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) infection are still poorly known. This project aimed to gather fundamental knowledge on the immune responses mounted against CHIKV to exploit this to develop new immune-based preventive and treatment strategies. Based on ex vivo studies, monocytes were found to be the main targets of acute infection during viremic phase, and the level of CHIKV viremia determined specific patterns of pro-inflammatory cytokines that are associated with disease severity during acute infection, and persistent chronic illness. The mechanistic role of monocytes in CHIKV infection was investigated. Results showed that the interplay between TLR3 and CD169/Siglec-1 could mediate CHIKV infections and regulate disease pathogenesis. These findings will be relevant for the rational design of therapies to control CHIKV infections.
Keywords
Chikungunya, acute, innate immunity, monocytes, virus, pathogenesis
Source Title
Publisher
Series/Report No.
Collections
Rights
Date
2013-05-16
DOI
Type
Thesis