Antigenic relationships between sylvatic and endemic dengue viruses.
Sylvatic dengue viruses (DENVs) are transmitted between non-human primates and arboreal Aedes spp. mosquitoes in Southeast Asia and west Africa. Recent evidence suggests that the risk for re-emergence of sylvatic DENV into the urban endemic/epidemic cycle may be high, which could limit the potential for eradicating the human transmission cycle with vaccines now under development. We assessed the likelihood of sylvatic DENV re-emergence in the face of immunity to current endemic strains or vaccines by evaluating the neutralization capacity of sera from DENV vaccinees and convalescent patients after primary infection with DENV-2 and DENV-3 serotypes. Our data indicate robust homotypic cross-immunity between human sera and sylvatic DENV strains, but limited heterotypic neutralization. Should a licensed vaccine lead to the eradication of the urban transmission cycle in the future, re-emergence of sylvatic strains into the urban cycle would be limited by homotypic immunity mediated by virus-neutralizing antibodies.
Vasilakis
Nikos
N
Center for Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Diseases, and Department of Pathology, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas 77555-0609, USA.
Durbin
Anna P
AP
da Rosa
Amelia P A Travassos
AP
Munoz-Jordan
Jorge L
JL
Tesh
Robert B
RB
Weaver
Scott C
SC
D000818:Animals; D000835:Animals, Wild; D000956:Antigens, Viral / Q000276:immunology*; D003715:Dengue / Q000276:immunology / Q000821:virology*; D003716:Dengue Virus / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D016679:Genome, Viral / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D007303:Insect Vectors
D000956:Antigens, Viral