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Mucosal arenavirus infection of primates can protect them from lethal hemorrhagic fever
Author(s) -
Rodas Juan D.,
Lukashevich Igor S.,
Zapata Juan C.,
Cairo Cristiana,
Tikhonov Ilia,
Djavani Mahmoud,
Pauza C. David,
Salvato Maria S.
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
journal of medical virology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.782
H-Index - 121
eISSN - 1096-9071
pISSN - 0146-6615
DOI - 10.1002/jmv.20000
Subject(s) - arenavirus , lassa fever , lymphocytic choriomeningitis , virology , lassa virus , biology , virus , subclinical infection , immune system , junin virus , immunology , viral shedding , immunity , viremia , cd8
Arenaviruses are transmitted from rodents to human beings by blood or mucosal exposure. The most devastating arenavirus in terms of human disease is Lassa fever virus, causing up to 300,000 annual infections in West Africa. We used a model for Lassa fever in which Rhesus macaques were infected with a related virus, lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV). Our goals were to determine the outcome of infection after mucosal inoculation and later lethal challenge, to characterize protective immune responses, and to test cross‐protection between a virulent (LCMV‐WE) and an avirulent (LCMV‐ARM) strain of virus. Although intravenous infections in the monkey model were uniformly lethal, intragastric infections recapitulated the spectrum of clinical outcomes seen in human exposure to Lassa fever virus: death, recovery from disease, and most often, subclinical infection. Plaque neutralization, ELISA, lymphocyte proliferation, and chromium‐release assays were used to monitor humoral and cellular immune responses. Cross protection between the two strains was observed. The three out of seven monkeys that experienced protection were also the three with the strongest cell‐mediated immunity. J. Med. Virol. 72:424–435, 2004. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.