Dengue fever in humanized NOD/SCID mice.
The increased transmission and geographic spread of dengue fever (DF) and its more severe presentation, dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF), make it the most important mosquito-borne viral disease of humans (50 to 100 million infections/year) (World Health Organization, Fact sheet 117, 2002). There are no vaccines or treatment for DF or DHF because there are no animal or other models of human disease; even higher primates do not show symptoms after infection (W. F. Scherer, P. K. Russell, L. Rosen, J. Casals, and R. W. Dickerman, Am. J. Trop. Med. Hyg. 27:590-599, 1978). We demonstrate that nonobese diabetic/severely compromised immunodeficient (NOD/SCID) mice xenografted with human CD34+ cells develop clinical signs of DF as in humans (fever, rash, and thrombocytopenia), when infected in a manner mimicking mosquito transmission (dose and mode). These results suggest this is a valuable model with which to study pathogenesis and test antidengue products.
Bente
Dennis A
DA
Department of Virology and Immunology, Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research, 7620 NW Loop 410, San Antonio, TX 78227, USA.
Melkus
Michael W
MW
Garcia
J Victor
JV
Rico-Hesse
Rebeca
R
D000818:Animals; D018952:Antigens, CD34; D003715:Dengue / Q000473:pathology*; D003716:Dengue Virus / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D005076:Exanthema / Q000473:pathology; D005312:Fetal Blood / Q000276:immunology; D005334:Fever / Q000473:pathology; D018380:Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation; D051379:Mice; D016688:Mice, Inbred NOD / Q000821:virology; D016513:Mice, SCID / Q000821:virology; D013921:Thrombocytopenia / Q000473:pathology; D014183:Transplantation, Heterologous; D014774:Virulence
D018952:Antigens, CD34