Zika virus encephalitis in immunocompetent mice is dominated by innate immune cells and does not require T or B cells.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Until the end of the twentieth century, Zika virus (ZIKV) was thought to cause a mostly mild, self-limiting disease in humans. However, as the geographic distribution of ZIKV has shifted, so too has its pathogenicity. Modern-day ZIKV infection is now known to cause encephalitis, acute disseminated encephalomyelitis, and Guillain-Barré syndrome in otherwise healthy adults. Nevertheless, the underlying pathogenetic mechanisms responsible for this shift in virulence remain unclear.

Methods

Here, we investigated the contribution of the innate versus the adaptive immune response using a new mouse model involving intracranial infection of adult immunocompetent mice with a moderately low dose of ZIKV MR766. To determine the contribution of type I interferons (IFN-Is) and

SUBMITTER: Hayashida E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6740023 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature