Development of experimental models in C57BL/6 for coinfection studies with Mayaro and Chikungunya viruses

• Grant number: 22/13236-1
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: November 01, 2022
• End date: September 30, 2023
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Microbiology
• Principal Investigator: Carla Claser
• Grantee: Victória Simões Della Casa
• Host Institution: Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas (ICB). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 18/24470-0 - Study of immune-pathological alterations induced during co-infection with Alpha virus and Malaria in murine model, AP.JP

Abstract

Climate, environmental and ecological changes have led to the recent increase in epidemic outbreaks of arboviruses in Brazil, including Chikungunya (CHIKV) and Mayaro (MAYV). Both CHIKV and MAYV are members of the family Togaviridae, genus Alphavirus, of the Semliki Forest antigenic complex and phylogenetically close. While CHIKV is the causative agent of outbreaks worldwide, MAYV infection represents a growing public health problem in Latin America, with sporadic cases and geographically limited outbreaks. However, MAYV remains extremely neglected, with the number of cases still underestimated, due to the similarity of clinical symptoms with chikungunya and dengue. Recent studies have shown that previous exposure to an alphavirus trigger in exposed individuals a potent humoral response capable of providing both protection against reinfection and partial cross-protection against heterologous reinfection. Thus, this project aims to establish different models of coinfection with CHIKV and MAYV in immunologically competent adult C57BL6/J mice, to study how this coinfection modulates the antibody-mediated humoral immune response and how it can alter the course of the infection of both viruses.