title: Immune response to dengue virus and prospects for a vaccine.
abstract: Dengue virus (DENV) is a mosquito-borne member of the Flavivirus genus and includes four serotypes (DENV-1, DENV-2, DENV-3, and DENV-4), each of which is capable of causing dengue fever and dengue hemorrhagic fever/dengue shock syndrome. Serious disease can be seen during primary infection but is more frequent following second infection with a serotype different from that of a previous infection. Infection with wild-type DENV induces high-titered neutralizing antibody that can provide long-term immunity to the homotypic virus and can provide short-term immunity (only several months duration) to a heterotypic DENV. The high level of virus replication seen during both secondary infection with a heterotypic virus and during primary DENV infection in late infancy is a direct consequence of antibody-dependent enhancement of replication. This enhanced virus replication is mediated primarily by preexisting, nonneutralizing, or subneutralizing antibodies to the virion surface antigens that enhance access of the virion-antibody complex to FcγR-bearing cells. Vaccines will need to provide long-term protection against each of the four DENV serotypes by inducing neutralizing antibodies, and live, attenuated and various nonliving virus vaccines are in development.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Bethesda, Maryland 20892, USA.
authors.forename: Brian R
authors.initials: BR
authors.lastname: Murphy
authors.forename: Stephen S
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Whitehead
mesh_terms: D056704:Adaptive Immunity; D000818:Animals; D000956:Antigens, Viral / Q000276:immunology; D003715:Dengue / Q000276:immunology* / Q000517:prevention & control*; D053059:Dengue Vaccines / Q000276:immunology*; D003716:Dengue Virus / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans
chemical_list: D000956:Antigens, Viral; D053059:Dengue Vaccines