Autoantibodies neutralizing type I IFNs in 40% of patients with WNV encephalitis in seven new cohorts.

ABSTRACT: Mosquito-borne West Nile virus (WNV) infection is a growing global health problem. About 0.5% of infected individuals develop encephalitis. We previously showed that 40% of patients in six cohorts had WNV encephalitis because of circulating auto-antibodies (auto-Abs) neutralizing type I IFNs. In seven new cohorts, we found that the prevalence of auto-Abs was highest (40% [17-44%]) in patients with encephalitis, and very low in a small sample of individuals with asymptomatic or mild infection. In the 13 European, Middle-Eastern and American cohorts available, odds ratios for WNV encephalitis in individuals with these auto-Abs relative to those without them in a large sample of the general population untested for WNV infection range from ~20 (OR=17.7; 95% CI: 13.8-22.8, p<10^-16</

SUBMITTER: Gervais A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12424919 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature