Gene Expression Profiling Of Dengue Virus Infection In Cell Lines And Patients

Main Category: Tropical Diseases
Also Included In: Infectious Diseases / Bacteria / Viruses
Article Date: 06 Nov 2007 - 17:00 PDT

email to a friend   printer friendly   opinions  

Researchers at the Novartis Institute for Tropical Diseases and the Genome Institute of Singapore have identified new host genes associated with dengue virus infection, which may open new avenues to developing a drug to treat the disease.

Dengue is the most prevalent mosquito-born viral disease affecting humans. Dengue-related disease results in an estimated 50-100 million cases of dengue fever and 250,000 to 500,000 cases of dengue hemorrhagic fever/dengue shock syndrome each year. Yet there is, at present, no drug treatment at all for the disease nor are there any validated host targets for therapeutic intervention.

Using microarray technology to monitor the response of virtually every human gene, Dr Subhash Vasudevan and Dr. Martin Hibberd's team aimed to identify the ways in which humans interact with dengue virus during infection in order to discover new treatment targets that could be exploited to control viral replication.

From the activated genes, the researchers identified three pathways common to in vitro and in vivo infection; the NF-kappaB initiated immune pathway, the type I interferon pathway, and the ubiquitin proteasome pathway. They next found that inhibiting the ubiquitin proteasome pathway, or activating the type I interferon pathway, resulted in significant inhibition of viral replication whereas inhibiting the NF-kappaB initiated immune pathway had no effect on viral replication. These results suggest that drugs that target the host pathways may prove effective against dengue.

CITATION: Fink J, Gu F, Ling L, Tolfvenstam T, Olfat F, et al. (2007) Host Gene Expression Profiling of Dengue Virus Infection in Cell Lines and Patients. PLoS Negl Trop Dis 1(2): e86. doi:10.1371/journal.pntd.0000086
Please click here

Disclaimer

This press release refers to an upcoming article in PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases. The release is provided by journal staff. Any opinions expressed in these releases or articles are the personal views of the journal staff and/or article contributors, and do not necessarily represent the views or policies of PLoS. PLoS expressly disclaims any and all warranties and liability in connection with the information found in the releases and articles and your use of such information.

About PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases

PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases is a peer- reviewed, open-access journal devoted to the pathology, epidemiology, prevention, treatment, and control of the neglected tropical diseases, as well as public policy relevant to this group of diseases. All works published in PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases are open access, which means that everything is immediately and freely available subject only to the condition that the original authorship and source are properly attributed. The Public Library of Science uses the Creative Commons Attribution License, and copyright is retained by the authors.

http://www.plosntds.org/

About the Public Library of Science

The Public Library of Science (PLoS) is a non-profit organization of scientists and physicians committed to making the world's scientific and medical literature a freely available public resource.

Public Library of Science
185 Berry Street, Suite 3100
San Francisco, CA 94107
USA

• Additional
• References
• Citations