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Journal of Virology, October 2006, p. 10208-10217, Vol. 80, No. 20
0022-538X/06/$08.00+0 doi:10.1128/JVI.00062-06
Copyright © 2006, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.
Daniil M. Prigozhin,2,
P. Robert Beatty,1 and
Eva Harris1*
Division of Infectious Diseases, School of Public Health, 140 Warren Hall, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, California 94720-7360,1 La Jolla Institute for Allergy and Immunology, 10355 Science Center Drive, San Diego, California 921212
Received 9 January 2006/ Accepted 31 July 2006
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) were
produced, and the neutralization of TNF-
activity prevented
early death of D2S10-infected mice. Sequence analysis comparing D2S10
to its parental strain implicated a conserved region of amino acid
residues in the envelope protein as a possible source for the D2S10
phenotype. These results demonstrate that D2S10 causes a more relevant
disease in mice and that TNF-
may be one of several key
mediators of severe DEN-induced disease in mice. This report represents
a significant advance in animal models for severe DEN disease, and it
begins to provide mechanistic insights into DEN-induced disease in
vivo. |
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Despite global morbidity
and mortality, DEN pathogenesis is poorly understood. Numerous studies
suggest that DHF/DSS may be an immunopathogenic disease
(11,
18,
27,
28). Specifically,
epidemiologic studies have shown that secondary infection with a
heterologous DEN serotype is a major risk factor for the development of
DHF/DSS. Two non-mutually exclusive mechanisms have been proposed to
explain how secondary DEN infections may enhance disease severity.
First, the ADE ("antibody-dependent enhancement")
hypothesis postulates that DEN serotype-cross-reactive antibodies (Abs)
at non-neutralizing conditions contribute to DHF/DSS by
increasing infection of Fc
receptor-positive
cells, such as monocytes and macrophages
(5,
12), leading to an
increase in viremia, which is correlated with more-severe
disease (35).Second, the "aberrant T-cell response"
hypothesis proposes that the reactivation of serotype-cross-reactive
memory T cells during secondary infection results in abnormal T-cell
activation and cytokine release or apoptosis
(25,
27). At present, the
exact mechanisms by which either the ADE phenomenon or inappropriate
cellular immune response contributes to DHF/DSS are undefined. Besides
the host immune status, DEN strains themselves may influence the
disease severity in humans with either primary or secondary DEN
infection (7,
8,
19). Taken together,
accumulating evidence implies that both viral and host factors
contribute to DEN pathogenesis.
Although clinical and experimental observations in vitro have provided valuable insights into DEN-host interactions, the roles of viral and host factors in regulating DEN-induced disease in vivo are yet to be elucidated. In particular, the mechanisms by which DEN infection leads to increased vascular permeability, the cardinal feature of DHF/DSS and the cause of shock, remain unclear, and this is mainly due to the lack of a suitable animal model. Therefore, as a first step towards investigating the molecular basis of DEN-induced disease, the present work seeks to develop a murine model of DEN disease that better reflects the human disease. Unlike existing murine models in which paralysis is the dominant clinical phenotype, here we report a mouse model of DEN disease in which the infected animals exhibit increased vascular permeability and fatal non-neurological disease.
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/ß) and IFN-
receptors (AG129) were obtained from Herbert Virgin (Washington
University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO). They were bred and
maintained under specific-pathogen-free conditions at the animal
facility at the University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley) or at
the La Jolla Institute for Allergy and Immunology (LIAI). All
experiments were approved by the Animal Care and Use Committee at UC
Berkeley and the Animal Care Committee at LIAI. Age- and sex-matched
mice 5 to 6 weeks of age were used, and experimental groups contained
three to six animals. Tissue culture and viruses. All reagents for tissue culture were endotoxin low, and cell lines were routinely tested for mycoplasma contamination. The parental PL046 DEN virus (Taiwanese isolate; Aedes albopictus C6/36 cell culture adapted) was originally obtained from Huan-Yao Lei (National Cheng Kung University, Taiwan). Stocks of PL046 were amplified in C6/36 cells, concentrated via ultracentrifugation, and titrated by plaque assays using BHK-21 cells, as previously described (29). To generate D2S10, a single AG129 mouse was intravenously injected with 108 PFU of PL046, followed by harvesting of serum at day 3 postinfection (d3 p.i.). The mouse was euthanized by isoflurane inhalation just prior to obtaining whole blood via cardiac puncture. The virus in the serum was amplified in C6/36 cells for 7 days and concentrated by ultracentrifugation, and approximately 105 to 106 PFU of the C6/36 cell-amplified virus was intravenously injected into another naive AG129 mouse. This entire procedure was repeated 10 times to obtain D2S10 stocks. To generate a sufficient quantity of virus for performing all of the experiments in this study, the D2S10 stock was passaged one or two more times in C6/36 cells. For some control experiments, D2S10 was inactivated by UV irradiation at 320 nm for 20 min at a distance of 5 cm. All virus preparations used for these studies were concentrated 30- to 50-fold by ultracentrifugation (starting volume, 60 to 100 ml; ending volume, 1 to 2 ml), and the titers of the centrifuged virus were determined after one freeze-thaw cycle at 80°C.
Quantitation of virus in infected mice. Mice were euthanized by isoflurane inhalation, and blood was collected after cardiac puncture for isolation of serum. Mice were then perfused with 30 to 50 ml phosphate-buffered saline (PBS), and tissue samples were harvested, processed, and tested for the presence of infectious virus by plaque assay in BHK-21 cells, as previously described (29). The limit of the sensitivity of the plaque assay was 100 PFU/ml or g of tissue weight.
Quantitation of vascular permeability. Vascular leakage was examined by intravascular administration of Evans blue (Sigma-Aldrich) as described previously (34). In brief, Evans blue (0.2 ml of 0.5% solution in PBS) was injected intravenously into PL046- or D2S10-infected mice between d3 to d4 p.i., when D2S10-infected mice began to exhibit signs of illness, such as ruffled fur, hunched posture, and lethargy. After 2 h, the mice were euthanized and extensively perfused with PBS, and then tissues were harvested and placed into preweighed tubes containing formamide (Sigma-Aldrich). Samples were incubated at 37°C for 24 h, and then Evans blue concentrations in formamide extracts were quantitated by measuring absorbances at 610 nm. Data were expressed as optical density at 610 nm per g of tissue weight.
Histopathology. For histologic studies, mice were euthanized and tissues were immediately harvested and fixed in 10% buffered formalin. Fixed tissues were paraffin embedded, sectioned, and stained with hematoxylin and eosin by the BioPathology Sciences, South San Francisco, Calif.
Measurement of TNF-
.
A standard
sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was performed to
quantitate the levels of tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-
) in
the serum and supernatants of tissue homogenates. A mouse TNF-
ELISA Ready-SET-Go kit (eBioscience) was used according to the
manufacturer's instructions. The optical density at 450 nm of each
sample was measured using a Bio-Tek Elx808 microplate reader
(Bio-Tek Instruments) and KCjunior software (Bio-Tek Instruments).
TNF-
levels were expressed as the number of picograms per ml
or g of tissue weight. The limit of detection of TNF-
was 15
pg/ml.
Neutralization of TNF-
.
TNF-
in D2S10-infected mice
was depleted by intraperitoneally injecting 100 µg of purified,
functional grade (i.e., azide-free, sterile-filtered, and with
endotoxin levels of <0.001 ng/µg) anti-mouse
TNF-
(clone MP6-XT3; eBioscience) on d1, d2, and d3 p.i.
Control animals were treated with functional grade, purified rat
immunoglobulin G1 isotype control
(eBioscience).
Nucleotide sequence analysis.
Viral RNA was
isolated using an RNeasy Mini kit (QIAGEN), and the genome was
amplified by real-time reverse transcription (RT)-PCR with
previously described primers
(9) using SuperScript III
and high-fidelity Pfu Turbo polymerase (Invitrogen). Automated
sequencing was performed at the UC Berkeley sequencing facility. For
determination of consensus sequence, PCR products were directly
sequenced in both directions using the PCR primers, and the 5'
and 3' termini were sequenced using an RLM-RACE kit (Ambion).
Two independent experiments per virus stock (starting with RNA
isolation) were conducted to exclude the contribution of real-time
RT-PCR artifacts. Sequences were evaluated using 4Peaks software
(http://mekentosj.com/4peaks/),
and sequence assembly and analysis were performed using Gene Jockey II
(Biosoft). For sequence analysis of individual clones, fragments
corresponding to amino acid residues 92 to 283 of domain II of the
envelope (E) protein were PCR amplified, cloned into pCR2.1-Topo vector
(Invitrogen), and amplified in DH5
competent cells. A total of
34 PL046 and 43 D2S10 clones were
sequenced.
Statistical analysis.
All statistical
analyses were performed using GraphPad Prism software, version 4.0a
(GraphPad Prism). Kaplan-Meier survival curves were analyzed by the log
rank test. For viral burden analysis, an unpaired t test with
Welch's correction was used. To examine the vascular permeability and
TNF-
levels, one-way analysis of variance with Tukey's
multiple comparison test was performed. Values were considered
significant at a P of
<0.05.
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/ß and
IFN-
(Ifnar1/
and
Ifngr1/;
hereafter referred to as AG129 mice), followed by the harvest of serum
on d3 p.i. Virus in the serum was amplified in mosquito cells and then
intravenously injected into another AG129 mouse. After repeating this
process a total of 10 times, we obtained strain D2S10. At
107 PFU, D2S10 caused a lethal infection in AG129 mice
between d3 to d5 p.i. (Fig.
1A), although it did not establish infection in wild-type mice (data not
shown). The infected AG129 mice exhibited hunched posture, ruffled fur,
and lethargy, but no paralysis. This phenotype was unchanged by the
treatment of D2S10-infected AG129 mice with
sulfamethoxazole/trimethoprim antibiotic suspension (200 mg/40 mg/5 ml
added to drinking water immediately after infection), eliminating the
possibility that the observed phenotype was due to bacterial sepsis and
supporting a direct role for the virus in causing disease. Only 5% of
D2S10-infected AG129 mice remained healthy at d5 p.i., and all of them
succumbed to infection by d14 p.i. In contrast, AG129 mice that were
infected with the parental DEN2 PL046 strain did not show any signs of
illness except for paralysis starting at d14 p.i. Approximately 14% of
PL046-infected mice remained free from disease until the end of the
experiments at d30 p.i. As expected, the paralytic mice harbored
infectious virus only in the brain and spinal cord, whereas the
moribund D2S10-infected mice contained infectious DEN in both neuronal
and non-neuronal tissues, including the serum, liver, lymph node, and
spleen (Fig. 1B). To
confirm that the D2S10-induced phenotype was due to the virus and not
other factors in the inoculum, mice were infected with D2S10 that was
treated with neutralizing anti-DEN2 (clone 3H5; 0.5 mg/ml of purified
immunoglobulin G) Ab for 2 h at 37°C. 3H5
neutralization reduced the initial titer of D2S10 (107 PFU)
to approximately 105 PFU. Mice infected with 3H5-neutralized
D2S10 began to develop paralysis starting at d20 p.i.; in contrast,
mice that were infected with non-neutralized D2S10 (107 PFU)
died by d5 p.i. without paralysis. At a lower viral dose
(106 PFU), D2S10 did not cause a lethal infection in AG129
mice; instead, D2S10-infected AG129 mice manifested paralysis at a
significantly faster rate than did PL046-infected animals and contained
detectable levels of DEN only in the brain and spinal cord (data not
shown). These results indicate that D2S10 is more virulent than PL046
in vivo and can cause a nonparalytic lethal disease in mice.
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FIG. 1. Susceptibility
of AG129 mice to infection with DEN2 strain D2S10 or PL046.Mice were intravenously inoculated with 107 PFU of D2S10 or
the parental PL046 strain and monitored daily until d30 p.i. Mice that
exhibited morbidity or paralysis were immediately euthanized.
(A) Kaplan-Meier survival curves. Data from three to six
independent experiments were pooled, and the P value between
D2S10 and PL046 is indicated. Approximately 3 to 10 times more viral
RNA was present per PFU of D2S10 than per PFU of PL046; n,
total number of mice per group. (B) Viral burden in tissues.
Levels of infectious virus in the serum (Ser), spleen (Spl), liver
(Liv), lymph nodes (LN), brain (Br), and spinal cord (SC) from
D2S10-infected moribund mice on d4 to d5 p.i. and PL046-infected mice
with paralysis on d16 to d27 p.i. were quantitated by standard plaque
assay. Each symbol represents an individual mouse. Open symbols,
D2S10-infected mice; filled symbols, PL046-infected
mice.
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FIG. 2. Viral
titers in tissues of D2S10- or PL046-infected AG129 mice at d3 p.i.
AG129 mice were intravenously infected with 107 PFU of the
D2S10 or PL046 strain and euthanized 3 days after infection. Tissues
were harvested, and DEN titers were determined by plaque assay. Data
from two to three separate experiments are shown. Each symbol
represents an individual mouse in which virus was detected; n,
total number of mice; open symbols, D2S10-infected mice; closed
symbols, PL046-infected mice. Discrepancies between the number of
symbols and n indicate that some infected mice do not contain
detectable levels of infectious
DEN.
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FIG. 3. Vascular
leakage in tissues of D2S10-infected AG129 mice. AG129 mice were
intravenously inoculated with 107 PFU of D2S10 (hatched
bar), PL046 (black bar), or UV-irradiated D2S10 (white bar). At d3
p.i., when D2S10-infected mice began to exhibit clinical signs of
illness, mice were administered intravenous Evans blue (0.2 ml of 0.5%
in PBS per mouse). After 2 h, mice were euthanized and
flushed extensively with PBS, and then tissues were harvested. Evans
blue concentrations were quantified after formamide extraction by
measuring absorbance at 610 nm. Data are expressed as means ±
standard deviations of Evans blue optical density/g of wet tissue and
are pooled from two to three independent experiments. Total numbers of
mice per group are as follows: 14 for D2S10, 11 for PL046, and 4 for
UV-D2S10. Asterisks indicate differences that are statistically
significant between D2S10- and PL046-infected mice
(*,
P < 0.05;
***,
P <
0.001).
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FIG. 4. Pathology
of D2S10-induced tissue damage in AG129 mice. Representative
hematoxylin and eosin sections from the liver (panel A), spleen (panel
B), and small intestine (panel C) of AG129 mice that were intravenously
infected with 107 PFU of D2S10 (images on the left) or PL046
(images on the right) at d3 p.i. are shown. Samples from at least three
independent experiments were reviewed. For each panel, photographs were
taken at 100x (top row) or 400x (bottom
row). (A) PT, portal triad; the arrow shows
inflammatory cells. (B) WP, white pulp; RP, red pulp. Note
the replacement of red pulp by inflammatory cells in D2S10-infected
mice. (C) L, lumen; V, villus; M, muscular layer. Note cell
debris in the lumen and inflammatory infiltrates in the muscular layer
of D2S10-infected
samples.
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in AG129 mice prevents D2S10-induced early lethality.
The presence of inflammatory
infiltrates in tissues of D2S10-infected AG129 mice suggested a role
for inflammatory responses in causing D2S10-induced pathology and the
early deaths of infected mice. Indeed, numerous human studies have
suggested that proinflammatory cytokines may be involved in the
pathogenesis of DHF/DSS. In particular, TNF-
has been detected
more frequently and at higher levels in the serum of patients with
DHF/DSS than in those with DF
(10,
13,
17). Therefore, we
investigated whether TNF-
may be responsible for causing
D2S10-induced death by measuring TNF-
levels in AG129 mice
that had been injected with 107 PFU of D2S10 or PL046 by
ELISA. On d1 and d2 p.i., little or no TNF-
was detected in
the serum of PL046-infected mice, whereas small amounts of this
cytokine were observed in the serum of D2S10-infected mice (Fig.
5A). By d3 p.i., significantly higher levels of TNF-
were present
in the serum and supernatants of intestinal tract homogenates of
D2S10-infected AG129 mice compared to levels in PL046-infected or
UV-irradiated D2S10-injected mice (Fig.
5B-D), suggesting a role
for TNF-
in the pathogenesis of disease in D2S10-infected
mice.
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FIG. 5. TNF-
production in D2S10-infected AG129 mice. AG129 mice were inoculated
with 107 PFU of D2S10 (hatched bars), PL046 (black bars), or
UV-irradiated D2S10 (white bars) and sacrificed on d1, d2, or d3 p.i.
TNF- levels in the serum on d1 and d2 p.i. (A) and
in the serum (B), small intestine (C), and large intestine
(D) on d3 p.i. were analyzed by ELISA. Results represent the
mean values ± standard deviations; n, number of mice
per group. Asterisks indicate differences that are statistically
significant
(*,
P < 0.05;
**,
P < 0.01;
***,
P <
0.001).
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or isotype control Ab
intraperitoneally on d1, d2, and d3 p.i. Neutralization of
TNF-
binding and biological activity significantly prevented
the lethal infection between d3 and d5 p.i. and instead resulted in the
development of paralysis at later time points p.i. (Fig.
6). As expected, the isotype control Ab-treated group died early after
infection, without exhibiting signs of paralysis. These results
demonstrate that TNF-
is responsible for causing early
lethality in AG129 mice with D2S10
infection.
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FIG. 6. Survival
of D2S10-infected AG129 mice after treatment with anti-TNF- .
AG129 mice were inoculated with 107 PFU of D2S10, followed
by the intraperitoneal injection of anti-TNF- or isotype
control Ab on days 1, 2, and 3 after infection. Infected mice were
followed daily for lethality or paralysis. All isotype control-treated
mice succumbed to infection without exhibiting signs of paralysis,
whereas all anti-TNF- -injected mice developed paralysis. As
per our animal protocol, mice with paralysis were immediately
euthanized. The paralyzed mice were scored as death for Kaplan-Meier
survival curve analysis. Data were pooled from three separate
experiments; n, total number of mice per group; the P
value is
indicated.
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-induced early
lethality, consensus sequence analysis was performed on cDNA derived
from the RNA genomes of the parental virus and D2S10. Seven nucleotide
changes occurred between PL046 and D2S10 coding regions, with one of
these resulting in an amino acid substitution (Lys to Glu) at position
128 within domain II of the major envelope glycoprotein E
(Table
1). Only one nucleotide change at position
10,564 was identified within the untranslated regions (UTR) of the two
viruses. Further examination of the primary sequencing files suggested
that the region surrounding the E protein residue 128 in D2S10 might be
more heterogeneous than in PL046. Therefore, 30 to 40 clones of this
particular segment of either D2S10 or PL046 was amplified by real-time
RT-PCR, cloned into a Topo vector, and sequenced. Table
2 shows that 27 out of 34 clones derived from the parental virus matched
the consensus PL046 amino acid sequence, and only 7 out of 34 clones
differed at amino acid positions 150, 153, or 173 of the E protein. In
contrast, the same region within the E protein of D2S10 contained a
higher frequency of amino acid substitutions. All 43 clones contained a
charge change mutation, and changes at eight residues were found in
D2S10: 122 (Lys
Ile), 124 (Asn
Asp/Ile), 126
(Lys
Glu), 128 (Lys
Glu), 130 (Val
Met), 222
(Pro
Ala), 228 (Gly
Glu), and 229 (Ser
Leu)
(Table
3). Based on the published DEN2 E protein structure, these residues in
PL046 formed part of a basic patch on the external surface of the
protein at the base of domain II, near the region postulated to affect
fusion activity (23,
26). These positively
charged residues, which have been identified in other DEN2 strains and
speculated to bind heparan sulfate
(24), became more
negatively charged amino acids in D2S10. These observations suggest
that the DEN2 E protein, especially the basic patch on domain II, may
be an important site for mutations that enhance virulence in
vivo. |
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TABLE 1. Consensus
sequence analysis of PL046 and D2S10
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TABLE 2. Summary
of amino acid changes in clones of the E protein of
PL046a compared to the consensus sequence
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TABLE 3. Summary
of amino acid changes in clones of the E protein of
D2S10a compared to the consensus sequence
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in circulation, and treatment of the infected
mice with a neutralizing anti-TNF-
Ab prevented
early D2S10-induced lethality. Finally, sequence comparisons between
D2S10 and the parental DEN strain revealed amino acid charge
differences in a conserved region of the E gene, suggesting a role for
these particular residues in determining viral virulence and
pathogenesis in vivo. Based on these results, D2S10-infected mice
represent a more relevant animal model of DEN-induced disease.
Moreover, the identification of TNF-
as a key mediator of
D2S10-induced disease in mice and the association of viral virulence in
vivo with specific amino acid substitutions in the E protein set the
foundation for studying the cellular and molecular basis of severe DEN
disease in vivo. Previous studies have shown that sequential series of liver-to-liver passages of YFVs in hamsters led to the generation of viral strains that cause a more lethal disease in hamsters (21, 33, 39). Instead of serial passaging, we performed alternate passaging of DEN between mosquito cells and mice to obtain D2S10, thereby approximating the natural transmission cycle of DEN between mosquitoes and humans. Similar to hamster-passaged YFV, D2S10 was more virulent than the parental PL046 strain, based on the observations that in AG129 mice, (i) high doses of D2S10, but not PL046, caused a lethal infection within 3 to 5 days p.i. and (ii) lower doses of D2S10 induced paralysis more rapidly than did PL046. Viral titers in tissues of D2S10-infected mice, as determined by plaque assay, were not significantly higher than in PL046-infected mice. Additional methods, such as strand-specific real-time RT-PCR, are now required to assess the contribution of viral load in causing the D2S10-induced phenotype.
Several murine models for DEN-induced disease have been reported. They have been created using a variety of mouse strains, including AG129 (16, 30), A/J (15, 29), and SCID (severe combined immunodeficient) mice that have been reconstituted with human cells (2, 4, 20, 37, 38), infected with either mosquito cell culture-passaged DEN or mouse brain-adapted DEN. DEN-infected mice in the great majority of these models exhibited paralysis, and some the infected mice also developed thrombocytopenia. Of note, a recent model using the SCID-human cord blood cell chimeras and subcutaneous inoculation of low-passage clinical isolates showed relevant signs, such as thrombocytopenia and erythema, without manifesting paralysis (4). However, none of the existing models include signs of increased vascular permeability. The cardinal feature of DHF/DSS in humans is the breakdown of vascular integrity, as evidenced by fluid accumulation in the pleural and peritoneal cavities. In D2S10-infected mice, increased vascular permeability was observed in the liver, spleen, and intestine, as assessed by Evans blue extravasation. However, the relevance of our model to human DEN disease is subject to several limitations. For example, the apparent lack of fluid accumulation in pleural and peritoneal cavities of D2S10-infected mice could be due to species differences in the pathogenesis of DEN disease. Alternatively, different manipulations of the virus and host components may be necessary to generate a more suitable murine model of DEN-induced vascular leakage. In particular, a mouse model that requires lower doses of virus and is less immunocompromised than AG129 mice might better reflect natural DEN infection in humans, since a high viral dose, in combination with a deficient IFN-dependent immune response of AG129 mice, may trigger an aberrant antiviral response. Therefore, we have continued our passaging strategy using different virus and mouse strains and are currently searching for new DEN strains that cause a more relevant disease in wild-type mice. Specifically, we are attempting to isolate novel DEN strains that induce DF signs, such as thrombocytopenia and erythema, in a majority of wild-type mice and DHF/DSS signs, such as increased vascular permeability, in a small subset of wild-type mice at later times p.i. Meanwhile, despite these limitations, D2S10-infected AG129 mice provide the first opportunity to investigate the pathogenic mechanism of vascular leakage during DEN infection in vivo.
A major finding of this study is the
identification of TNF-
as a critical component of
D2S10-induced lethality in AG129 mice. In agreement with studies
demonstrating that the sera from patients with DHF/DSS contain greater
levels of several proinflammatory cytokines, including TNF-
,
than sera from individuals with DF
(10,
13,
17), D2S10- but not
PL046-infected AG129 mice contain elevated levels of TNF-
in
the serum. Neutralization of this cytokine alone was sufficient to
decrease the severity of disease in D2S10-infected mice and to delay
death significantly. Our result is consistent with a previous study
that showed that anti-TNF-
treatment decreased the rate of
paralysis in BALB/c mice after infection with mouse brain-adapted DEN
(3). Therefore, among all
the inflammatory mediators that have been implicated in the
pathogenesis of human DEN disease, TNF-
may be one of the
major players that modulate the severity of disease. Future
experiments, starting with the identification of cellular sources and
targets of TNF-
, are now necessary to determine why this
cytokine is produced in D2S10-infected animals. Potential explanations
for TNF-
induction include higher viral loads and/or more
intense inflammatory responses in particular tissues or at certain time
points p.i. in D2S10-infected mice compared to those in PL046-infected
mice. However, in preliminary Evans blue uptake studies,
anti-TNF-
treatment appeared to result in a decrease in
vascular permeability in the spleen but not in other tissues of
D2S10-infected mice (data not shown), suggesting that different immune
effector molecules may be responsible for the breakdown of the vascular
integrity in different tissues. Further studies with D2S10-infected
AG129 mice at both virologic and immunologic levels should allow us to
dissect the mechanisms by which TNF-
and other immune
effectors modulate the severity of DEN-induced disease in
vivo.
Finally, another major finding of the present study is the identification of potential viral determinants that are likely to mediate the D2S10-specific phenotype described above. At the consensus sequence level, the genomes of D2S10 and PL046 viruses varied by eight nucleotides, with only one amino acid change in domain II of the E protein and one nucleotide substitution in the 3' UTR. In vivo selection led to greater nucleotide heterogeneity in the envelope region, based on sequence analysis of clones that span the E protein of PL046 versus D2S10. Consensus sequence analysis of the E region of early mouse passages of D2S10 revealed the amino acid change (K128E) in domain II of the E protein starting at passage 5. Since the D2S10-like phenotype was observed at passage 7, but not at passages 5 and 6, additional sequencing is now needed to determine whether passages 5 and 6 have less heterogeneity than passage 7. We have also sequenced the entire genome of the virus isolated from mesenteric lymph nodes of a D2S10-infected AG129 mouse. At the consensus level, the lymph node virus contains the expected K128E change plus another (N124D) mutation in the E protein. Collectively, our sequence data suggest that this K128E mutation in the E protein is stable. Since the E protein plays a major role in viral tropism (26) and the 3' UTR is involved in DEN translation and replication (1, 14), these particular mutations in the E protein and the 3' UTR may be involved in the increased virulence of D2S10. Similarly, few nucleotide changes were associated with the serial passage of YFV in hamsters, and a majority of amino acid changes of the hamster-virulent YFV also occurred in the E protein (21). Taken together, these findings suggest that, at the consensus sequence level, flaviviruses accumulate few mutations in vivo and that these mutations tend to cluster in the E protein. However, within the E protein, the hamster-passaged YFV strain carried mutations in domains I and III, whereas D2S10 contained changes in domain II, suggesting different mechanism of action for the increased virulence of these viruses. Analysis of clones derived from domain II of the E protein of PL046 versus D2S10 implicated several potential mechanisms. First, all eight amino acid changes in D2S10 were localized near the region that is postulated to regulate fusion activity, suggesting a role for viral entry and fusion in D2S10-induced virulence (23). Second, these eight amino acids, which were part of a conserved, basic patch in PL046, converted into negatively charged or uncharged residues in D2S10, potentially disrupting normal interactions between the basic residues and cell surface components such as heparan sulfate (24). Third, the viral diversity in D2S10 was increased compared to that in PL046, and this might indicate a role for the viral population as a whole, as opposed to a specific viral variant, in modulating the D2S10-induced phenotype in vivo (36). Further studies using molecular clones of these viruses are now required to determine the significance of the specific D2S10 mutations. Specifically, we have generated an infectious cDNA clone of PL046 and are currently engineering the particular D2S10-specific mutations into the parental virus.
In conclusion, inoculation of AG129 mice
lacking IFN receptors with D2S10, a novel DEN strain that was isolated
after alternate passaging between mosquito cells and mice, resulted in
a TNF-
-mediated lethal infection. Infected mice manifested
increased vascular permeability and lacked signs of paralysis early
after infection. Sequence analysis of the parental and D2S10 viruses
suggested that a conserved patch of basic residues in domain II of the
E protein might be a major target for increasing viral virulence in
vivo.
This research was supported by grants ID-IA-0031-02 from the Ellison Medical Foundation and CRA-14 from the Pediatric Dengue Vaccine Initiative (to E.H.) and an LIAI institutional start-up fund (to S.S.).
These
authors contributed equally. ![]()
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