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Aedes aegypti NeSt1 Protein Enhances Zika Virus Pathogenesis by Activating Neutrophils.

ABSTRACT: Saliva from the mosquito vector of flaviviruses is capable of changing the local immune environment, leading to an increase in flavivirus-susceptible cells at the infected bite site. In addition, an antibody response to specific salivary gland (SG) components changes the pathogenesis of flaviviruses in human populations. To investigate whether antigenic SG proteins are capable of enhancing infection with Zika virus (ZIKV), a reemerging flavivirus primarily transmitted by the Aedes aegypti mosquito, we screened for antigenic SG proteins using a yeast display library and demonstrate that a previously undescribed SG protein we term neutrophil stimulating factor 1 (NeSt1) activates primary mouse neutrophils ex vivo Passive immunization against NeSt1 decreases pro-interleukin-1? and CXCL2 expression, prevents macrophages from infiltrating the bite site, protects susceptible IFNAR-/- IFNGR-/- (AG129) mice from early ZIKV replication, and ameliorates virus-induced pathogenesis. These findings indicate that NeSt1 stimulates neutrophils at the mosquito bite site to change the immune microenvironment, allowing a higher level of early viral replication and enhancing ZIKV pathogenesis.IMPORTANCE When a Zika virus-infected mosquito bites a person, mosquito saliva is injected into the skin along with the virus. Molecules in this saliva can make virus infection more severe by changing the immune system to make the skin a better place for the virus to replicate. We identified a molecule that activates immune cells, called neutrophils, to recruit other immune cells, called macrophages, that the virus can infect. We named this molecule neutrophil-stimulating factor 1 (NeSt1). When we used antibodies to block NeSt1 in mice and then allowed Zika virus-infected mosquitoes to feed on these mice, they survived much better than mice that do not have antibodies against NeSt1. These findings give us more information about how mosquito saliva enhances virus infection, and it is possible that a vaccine against NeSt1 might protect people against severe Zika virus infection.

SUBMITTER: Hastings AK

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6580965 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

<i>Aedes aegypti</i> NeSt1 Protein Enhances Zika Virus Pathogenesis by Activating Neutrophils.

Hastings Andrew K AK Uraki Ryuta R Gaitsch Hallie H Dhaliwal Khushwant K Stanley Sydney S Sproch Hannah H Williamson Eric E MacNeil Tyler T Marin-Lopez Alejandro A Hwang Jesse J Wang Yuchen Y Grover Jonathan R JR Fikrig Erol E

Journal of virology 20190614 13

Saliva from the mosquito vector of flaviviruses is capable of changing the local immune environment, leading to an increase in flavivirus-susceptible cells at the infected bite site. In addition, an antibody response to specific salivary gland (SG) components changes the pathogenesis of flaviviruses in human populations. To investigate whether antigenic SG proteins are capable of enhancing infection with Zika virus (ZIKV), a reemerging flavivirus primarily transmitted by the <i>Aedes aegypti</i> ...[more]

PMID: 30971475

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Project description:Arthropod-borne viruses comprise a significant global disease burden. Surveillance and mitigation of arboviruses like Zika virus (ZIKV) require accurate estimates of transmissibility by vector mosquitoes. Although Aedes species mosquitoes are established as competent ZIKV vectors, differences in experimental protocols across studies prevent direct comparisons of relative transmissibility. An understudied factor complicating these comparisons is differential environmental microbiota exposures, where most vector competence studies use mosquitoes reared in laboratory tap water, which does not represent the microbial complexity of environmental water where wild larvae develop. We simulated natural larval development by rearing Californian Aedes aegypti larvae with microbes obtained from cemetery headstone water compared to conventional tap water. A. aegypti larvae reared in environmental cemetery water pupated 3 days faster and at higher rates. Mosquitoes reared in environmental water were less competent vectors of ZIKV than laboratory water-reared A. aegypti, as evidenced by significantly reduced infection and transmission rates. Microbiome comparisons of laboratory water- and environment water-reared mosquitoes and their rearing water showed significantly higher bacterial diversity in environment water. Despite this pattern, corresponding differences in bacterial diversity were not consistently observed between the respective adult mosquitoes. We also observed that the microbial compositions of adult mosquitoes differed more by whether they ingested a bloodmeal than by larval water type. Together, these results highlight the role of transient microbes in the larval environment in modulating A. aegypti vector competence for ZIKV. Laboratory vector competence likely overestimates the true transmissibility of arboviruses like ZIKV when conventional laboratory water is used for rearing. IMPORTANCE We observed that A. aegypti mosquitoes reared in water from cemetery headstones instead of the laboratory tap exhibited a reduced capacity to become infected with and transmit Zika virus. Water from the environment contained more bacterial species than tap water, but these bacteria were not consistently detected in adult mosquitoes. Our results suggest that rearing mosquito larvae in water collected from local environments as opposed to laboratory tap water, as is conventional, could provide a more realistic assessment of ZIKV vector competence since it better recapitulates the natural environment in which larvae develop. Given that laboratory vector competence is used to define the species to target for control, the use of environmental water to rear larvae could better approximate the microbial exposures of wild mosquitoes, lessening the potential for overestimating ZIKV transmission risk. These studies raise the question of whether rearing larvae in natural water sources also reduces vector competence for other mosquito-borne viruses.

Dataset Information

Aedes aegypti NeSt1 Protein Enhances Zika Virus Pathogenesis by Activating Neutrophils.

Publications

<i>Aedes aegypti</i> NeSt1 Protein Enhances Zika Virus Pathogenesis by Activating Neutrophils.

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