title: Antigenic relationships between sylvatic and endemic dengue viruses.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Center for Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Diseases, and Department of Pathology, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas 77555-0609, USA.
authors.forename: Nikos
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Vasilakis
authors.forename: Anna P
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Durbin
authors.forename: Amelia P A Travassos
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: da Rosa
authors.forename: Jorge L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Munoz-Jordan
authors.forename: Robert B
authors.initials: RB
authors.lastname: Tesh
authors.forename: Scott C
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Weaver
mesh_terms: 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
chemical_list: D000956:Antigens, Viral