Shifts in receptors during submergence of an encephalitic arbovirus.

ABSTRACT: Western equine encephalitis virus (WEEV) is an arthropod-borne virus (arbovirus) that frequently caused major outbreaks of encephalitis in humans and horses in the early twentieth century, but the frequency of outbreaks has since decreased markedly, and strains of this alphavirus isolated in the past two decades are less virulent in mammals than strains isolated in the 1930s and 1940s^1-3. The basis for this phenotypic change in WEEV strains and coincident decrease in epizootic activity (known as viral submergence³) is unclear, as is the possibility of re-emergence of highly virulent strains. Here we identify protocadherin 10 (PCDH10) as a cellular receptor for WEEV. We show that multiple highly virulent ancestral WEEV strains isolated in the 1930s and 1940s, in additi

SUBMITTER: Li W 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11324528 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature