Innate immune antagonism of mosquito‐borne flaviviruses in humans and mosquitoes

Ahmed M.E. Elrefaey*, Philippa Hollinghurst, Christine M. Reitmayer, Luke Alphey, Kevin Maringer*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

Abstract

Mosquito‐borne viruses of the Flavivirus genus (Flaviviridae family) pose an ongoing threat to global public health. For example, dengue, Japanese encephalitis, West Nile, yellow fever, and Zika viruses are transmitted by infected mosquitoes and cause severe and fatal diseases in humans. The means by which mosquito‐borne flaviviruses establish persistent infection in mosquitoes and cause disease in humans are complex and depend upon a myriad of virus‐host interactions, such as those of the innate immune system, which are the main focus of our review. This review also covers the different strategies utilized by mosquito‐borne flaviviruses to antagonize the innate immune response in humans and mosquitoes. Given the lack of antiviral therapeutics for mosquito‐borne flaviviruses, improving our understanding of these virus‐immune interactions could lead to new antiviral therapies and strategies for developing refractory vectors incapable of transmitting these viruses, and can also provide insights into determinants of viral tropism that influence virus emergence into new species.

Original languageEnglish
Article number2116
JournalViruses
Volume13
Issue number11
Early online date20 Oct 2021
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Nov 2021

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.

Keywords

  • Arbovirus
  • Flavivirus
  • Humans
  • Immune antagonism
  • Innate immune signaling
  • Mosquitoes
  • RNAi
  • Type I interferon

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