2023-06-22 18:25:42
“Interferon type 1 autoantibodies underlie the most severe forms of West Nile virus encephalitis (WNV), West Nile fever virus”. This was explained by a group of researchers coordinated by Alessandro Borghesi, neonatologist at the San Matteo Polyclinic in Pavia, promoter and principal investigator of a work published in the ‘Journal of Experimental Medicine’. The results of the research are released by the Lombard Irccs on the day in which the ECDC, the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control, raises the alarm on the increase in the circulation of Aedes mosquitoes in the European Union/European Economic Area – cause climate change – proposing the risk of an increase in cases and deaths. A picture in which Italy stands out for a record number of West Nile infections reported in 2022: out of 1,133 human cases and 92 deaths recorded in the EU/EEA, of which 1,112 acquired locally in 11 countries, 723 autochthonous cases were reported by the Peninsula.
The discovery, all Italian and carried out in the research laboratories of the polyclinic – underlined by the Irccs of Pavia – was confirmed with experiments carried out as part of a consolidated collaboration between San Matteo, Institut Imagine in Paris and Rockefeller University in New York. Several Italian (Bologna, Padua, Turin) and foreign (Hungary and United States) virology centers collaborated on the study. The researchers studied patients with West Nile virus encephalitis enrolled in 6 different centres, identifying in the blood of 40% of the subjects anti-interferon 1 autoantibodies. These autoantibodies are essential for immune responses against viruses, specifies a note from San Matteo .
“Subjects with excess aberrant anti-interferon autoantibodies develop more severe forms of the disease – it reads – A result already obtained in other studies conducted by the researchers, who had also reached the same conclusions for other viruses, such as Sars-CoV-2 ” of Covid-19 “and the flu”.
WNV is a virus transmitted by mosquito bites. In most people who contract it, the infection runs asymptomatic or paucisymptomatic; however a small percentage, less than 1%, develop very serious disease. “The study therefore confirms the results of previous work on these autoantibodies which, by neutralizing type 1 interferons, are the main factors responsible for the serious course of various viral diseases of global importance – comments Borghesi – In general, the results of the study broaden the spectrum of susceptibility to viral infections in subjects carrying these autoantibodies and demonstrate that the defect of the immune responses mediated by interferon-alpha and interferon-omega represents a general mechanism of susceptibility to serious viral infectious diseases.The research does not stop at the current publication : Approximately 60% of West Nile virus encephalitis cases for which susceptibility mechanisms are unknown to date remain to be explained.Our finding points the way forward to identify other mechanisms related to interferon-mediated immune responses type 1, such as genetic causes”.
“These results highlight the importance of studying, on the basis of the same principles, other viral infectious diseases transmitted by mosquitoes, such as Dengue, yellow fever and Chikungunya – says Francesca Rovida, virologist of San Matteo – Fortunately, the anti-interferon type 1 autoantibodies are not widespread in the general population. Their prevalence increases with increasing age, especially in males over 70. The study findings have important medical implications. For example, in areas where West Nile is endemic it is possible to predict a screening to identify subjects at risk for whom specific therapeutic measures or preventive actions can be implemented, such as vaccinations for example”.
The work bears the signature of Fausto Baldanti, director of the Complex Structure of Microbiology and Virology of the San Matteo Polyclinic in Pavia, and his collaborators Francesca Rovida, Irene Cassaniti, Daniele Lilleri, Chiara Fornara, Josè Camilla Sammartino, Antonio Piralla, Elena Percivalle; by Stefano Ghirardello, director of Sc Neonatology and neonatal intensive care; by Maria Antonietta Avanzini, biologist of the Pediatric Oncohematology Sc, and by Borghesi principal investigator.
#Italy #records #West #Nile #cases #study #reveals #forms