Enhancement of Infectivity of Insect Cell-Derived La Crosse Virus by Human Serum
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Pooled Human Serum Off The Clot from Innovative Research was used in the following study:
Enhancement of Infectivity of Insect Cell-Derived La Crosse Virus by Human Serum
Maria A. Cruz, Griffith D. Parks
Virus Research
November 11, 2020
Innate cellular immune mechanisms are often the first line of defense a host organism has against viral infections. These include physical barriers like skin and mucous, antiviral inhibitors, signaling molecules such as interferon (IFN) and cytokines, etc. Some bodily fluids, such as serum, can demonstrate a broad range of antiviral activities and have been shown to act via a wide range of mechanisms. Some of these mechanisms include preventing viruses from attaching to cells, directly killing the virus, preventing replication of the virus, and so on.
Arboviruses, or viruses transmitted via arthropod vectors, are unique in that they have a dual life cycle where they replicate both in arthropods and in animals. Researchers in this study examined the in vitro interactions between human serum and La Crosse virus (LACV); LACV is a virus transmitted by the Aedes triseratus mosquito and infection typically only causes mild illness, however, a small but growing number of pediatric cases have shown the potential for LACV to lead to meningoencephalitis, seizures, and paralysis. Due to the large vector range, there is currently no approved treatment for LACV, and this combined with the increasing number of serious pediatric cases has caused LACV to be classified as an emerging threat in the United States.
It has been established that vertebrate and invertebrate cells differ in many functions which can play key roles in a virus’ mechanisms of replication. Thus, interactions between host cells and viruses can vary greatly between mammalian-derived and insect-derived viruses. Researchers in this study hypothesized that complement factors in human serum would neutralize LACV infectivity, which is what they observed other similar viruses. In contrast, however, they found that human serum contains factors that enhance the infectivity of LACV in early stages of replication. Interestingly, this increase in infectiousness was only observed in insect-derived LACV, as the mammalian-derived LACV infectivity remained stable both in incubation alone and when incubated in human serum. These results strongly suggest that mammalian and insect-derived viruses differ substantially, and insect-derived viruses can potentially increase in infectivity when introduced to human serum.
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