First detection of dengue virus in the saliva of immunocompetent murine model.

Arthur Da Costa Rasinhas,Ortrud Monika Barth,Debora Ferreira Barreto-Vieira,Gabriela Cardoso Caldas,Raphael Leonardo,Fernanda Cunha Jácome,Marcos Alexandre Nunes Da Silva,Priscila Conrado Guerra Nunes,Flávia Barreto Dos Santos

doi:10.1590/0074-02760170208

Arthur Da Costa Rasinhas, Ortrud Monika Barth + Show 7 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1590/0074-02760170208

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Abstract

The lack of an experimental animal model for the study of dengue pathogenesis is a limiting factor for the development of vaccines and drugs. In previous studies, our group demonstrated the susceptibility of BALB/c mice to infection by dengue virus (DENV) 1 and 2, and the virus was successfully isolated in several organs. In this study, BALB/c mice were experimentally infected intravenously with DENV-4, and samples of their saliva were collected. Viral RNA extracted from the saliva samples was subjected to qRT-PCR, with a detection limit of 0.002 PFU/mL. The presence of DENV-4 viral RNA was detected in the saliva of two mice, presenting viral titers of 109 RNA/mL. The detection of DENV RNA via saliva sampling is not a common practice in dengue diagnosis, due to the lower detection rates in human patients. However, the results observed in this study seem to indicate that, as in humans, detection rates of DENV RNA in mouse saliva are also low, correlating the infection in both cases. This study reports the first DENV detection in the saliva of BALB/c immunocompetent mice experimentally infected with non-neuroadapted DENV-4.

Highlights

Dengue (DEN) is an emerging disease, prevailing in urban and suburban areas of tropical and subtropical countries
Some DEN virus (DENV) strains induce limited viremia in some mouse strains, the overwhelming majority of immunocompetent mouse models do not present with clinical signs of DENV infection (Sarathy et al 2015)
Our group verified the susceptibility of immunocompetent BALB/c mice when infected by the intraperitoneal and intravenous routes with DENV nonneuroadapted viral strains

Summary

Introduction

Dengue (DEN) is an emerging disease, prevailing in urban and suburban areas of tropical and subtropical countries. Despite being the only natural vertebrate hosts for DENV, non-human primates are not preferred as an animal model for experimental DEN infection, failing to show signs of the disease as observed in humans (Clark et al 2013). Our group verified the susceptibility of immunocompetent BALB/c mice when infected by the intraperitoneal and intravenous routes with DENV nonneuroadapted viral strains.

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