STUDY OF ZIKA VIRUS INFECTION AND ITS POSSIBLE ASSOCIATION WITH GUILLAIN-BARRÉ SYNDROME

• Grant number: 16/04320-8
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• Start date: July 01, 2016
• End date: June 30, 2019
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Microbiology
• Principal Investigator: Benedito Antônio Lopes da Fonseca
• Grantee: Taline Monteiro Klein
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Medicina de Ribeirão Preto (FMRP). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Ribeirão Preto , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Recently, severe neurological cases, as microcephaly and Guillain-Barré Syndrome(GBS, have been associated with the previous Zika virus infection, and in 2015 november were reported 3 deaths probably related with the disease in Brazil. The GBS is an autoimmune syndrome that affects the peripheral nervous system (PNS), and is typically triggered by previous infection states. It is suspected that antibodies directed to control invaders pathogens cross-react binding in gangliosides in the myelin sheath of neurones. This autoimmune response may results in neurone damage inhibiting the nerve impulse. However the casual relation between the ZIKV infection and the onset of GBS it was not stablished, as well as the mechanisms involved in this process. Besides, there is a limited knowledge about the ZIKV infection and its dynamics of this virus as a pathogenic agent to the human species. In this manner, this research aim mainly to undertand better the biological aspects of ZIKV, as well as its association with the GBS.

Academic Publications

(References retrieved automatically from State of São Paulo Research Institutions)

KLEIN, Taline Monteiro. Investigation of Zika Virus infection in patients with Guillain-Barré syndrome. 2019. Doctoral Thesis - Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Faculdade de Medicina de Ribeirão Preto (PCARP/BC) Ribeirão Preto.