Abstract
BackgroundChikungunya (CHIK) virus is a mosquito-transmitted alphavirus that causes in humans an acute infection characterised by fever, polyarthralgia, head-ache, and myalgia. Since 2005, the emergence of CHIK virus was associated with an unprecedented magnitude outbreak of CHIK disease in the Indian Ocean. Clinically, this outbreak was characterized by invalidating poly-arthralgia, with myalgia being reported in 97.7% of cases. Since the cellular targets of CHIK virus in humans are unknown, we studied the pathogenic events and targets of CHIK infection in skeletal muscle.Methodology/Principal FindingsImmunohistology on muscle biopsies from two CHIK virus-infected patients with myositic syndrome showed that viral antigens were found exclusively inside skeletal muscle progenitor cells (designed as satelllite cells), and not in muscle fibers. To evaluate the ability of CHIK virus to replicate in human satellite cells, we assessed virus infection on primary human muscle cells; viral growth was observed in CHIK virus-infected satellite cells with a cytopathic effect, whereas myotubes were essentially refractory to infection.Conclusions/SignificanceThis report provides new insights into CHIK virus pathogenesis, since it is the first to identify a cellular target of CHIK virus in humans and to report a selective infection of muscle satellite cells by a viral agent in humans.
Highlights
Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) is a moquito-transmitted alphavirus belonging to the family Togaviridae, which was first reported in 1952 in Tanganyika
We investigated the possible involvement of muscle cells in the CHIK pathogenesis, both by an ex-vivo approach in muscle biopsies from two infected patients with a myositic syndrome, and in vitro on cultures of human muscle satellite cells, that can be differentiated into myotubes
She was admitted to hospital with reccurrency of classical CHIK virus infection clinical picture, included fever, headache, joint pain, and myalgia
Summary
Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) is a moquito-transmitted alphavirus belonging to the family Togaviridae, which was first reported in 1952 in Tanganyika It is responsible for an acute infection of abrupt onset, characterised by high fever, arthralgia, myalgia, head-ache, chills, photophobia and rash [1]. The symptoms are generally of short duration (one week) and recovery is often complete, some patients have recurrent episodes for several weeks after infection[1,2] This virus is endemic in Africa, India and South-East Asia and is transmitted by Aedes mosquitoes through an urban or sylvatic transmission cycle. Since 2005, the emergence of CHIK virus was associated with an unprecedented magnitude outbreak of CHIK disease in the Indian Ocean This outbreak was characterized by invalidating poly-arthralgia, with myalgia being reported in 97.7% of cases. This report provides new insights into CHIK virus pathogenesis, since it is the first to identify a cellular target of CHIK virus in humans and to report a selective infection of muscle satellite cells by a viral agent in humans
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