The severity of West Nile virus (WNV) infection in immunocompetent animals is highly strain dependent, ranging from avirulent to highly neuropathogenic. Here, we investigate the nature of this strain-specific restriction by analyzing the replication of avirulent (WNV-MAD78) and highly virulent (WNV-NY) strains in neurons, astrocytes, and microvascular endothelial cells, which comprise the neurovascular unit within the central nervous system (CNS). We demonstrate that WNV-MAD78 replicated in and traversed brain microvascular endothelial cells as efficiently as WNV-NY. Likewise, similar levels of replication were detected in neurons. Thus, WNV-MAD78's nonneuropathogenic phenotype is not due to an intrinsic inability to replicate in key target cells within the CNS. In contrast, replication of WNV-MAD78 was delayed and reduced compared to that of WNV-NY in astrocytes. The reduced susceptibility of astrocytes to WNV-MAD78 was due to a delay in viral genome replication and an interferon-independent reduction in cell-to-cell spread. Together, our data suggest that astrocytes regulate WNV spread within the CNS and therefore are an attractive target for ameliorating WNV-induced neuropathology.

The DNA damage response (DDR) maintains genomic integrity through an elaborate network of signaling pathways that sense DNA damage and recruit effector factors to repair damaged DNA. DDR signaling pathways are usurped and manipulated by the replication programs of many viruses. Here, we review the papillomavirus (PV) life cycle, highlighting current knowledge of how PVs recruit and engage the DDR to facilitate productive infection.

The neuroinflammatory response to West Nile virus (WNV) infection can be either protective or pathological depending on the context. Although several studies have examined chemokine profiles within brains of WNV-infected mice, little is known about how various cell types within the central nervous system (CNS) contribute to chemokine expression. Here, we assessed chemokine expression in brain microvascular endothelial cells and astrocytes, which comprise the major components of the blood-brain barrier (BBB), in response to a non-pathogenic (WNV-MAD78) and a highly pathogenic (WNV-NY) strain of WNV. Higher levels of the chemokine CCL5 were detected in WNV-MAD78-infected brain endothelial monolayers compared with WNV-NY-infected cells. However, the opposite profile was observed in WNV-infected astrocytes, indicating that pathogenic and non-pathogenic strains of WNV provoke different CCL5 profiles at the BBB. Thus, cells comprising the BBB may contribute to a dynamic pro-inflammatory response within the CNS that evolves as WNV infection progresses.

The molecular basis for the increased resistance of astrocytes to a non-neuropathogenic strain of West Nile virus (WNV), WNV-MAD78, compared with the neuropathogenic strain WNV-NY remains unclear. Here, we demonstrated that the reduced susceptibility of astrocytes to WNV-MAD78 is due to a combination of both cellular activities as well as viral determinants. Analyses of the viral particle indicated that astrocyte-derived WNV-MAD78 particles were less infectious than those of WNV-NY. Additionally, inhibition of cellular furin-like proteases increased WNV-MAD78 infectious particle production in astrocytes, suggesting that high levels of furin-like protease activity within these cells acted in a cell- and strain-specific manner to inhibit WNV-MAD78 replication. Moreover, analysis of recombinant viruses indicated that the structural proteins of WNV-MAD78 were responsible for decreased particle infectivity and the corresponding reduction in infectious particle production compared with WNV-NY. Thus, the composition of the WNV virion was also a major determinant for viral fitness within astrocytes and may contribute to WNV propagation within the central nervous system. Whether the WNV-MAD78 structural genes reduce virus replication and particle infectivity through the same mechanism as the cellular furin-like protease activity or whether these two determinants function through distinct pathways remains to be determined.