New Immuno-Epidemiological Biomarker of Human Exposure to Aedes Vector Bites: From Concept to Applications

Abstract

Arthropod-borne viruses (arboviruses) such as dengue virus (DENV), chikungunya virus (CHIKV), Zika virus (ZIKV), and yellow fever virus (YFV) are the most important ‘emerging pathogens’ because of their geographic spread and their increasing impact on vulnerable human populations. To fight against these arboviruses, vector control strategies (VCS) remain one of the most valuable means. However, their implementation and monitoring are labour intensive and difficult to sustain on large scales, especially when transmission and Aedes mosquito densities are low. To increase the efficacy of VCS, current entomological methods should be improved by new complementary tools which measure the risk of arthropod-borne diseases’ transmission. The study of human–Aedes immunological relationships can provide new promising serological tools, namely antibody-based biomarkers, allowing to accurately estimate the human–Aedes contact and consequently, the risk of transmission of arboviruses and the effectiveness of VCS. This review focuses on studies highlighting the concept, techniques, and methods used to develop and validate specific candidate biomarkers of human exposure to Aedes bites. Potential applications of such antibody-based biomarkers of exposure to Aedes vector bites in the field of operational research are also discussed.

IgG Antibody Responses to the Aedes albopictus 34k2 Salivary Protein as Novel Candidate Marker of Human Exposure to the Tiger Mosquito

“…aegypti , with some encouraging indications also for Ae. albopictus (reviewed by Sagna et al, 2018 ).…”

“…For Aedes mosquitoes some promising indications have been obtained with the Nterm-34kDa peptide, which is designed on the culicine-specific Ae. aegypti 34k1 salivary protein (Sagna et al, 2018 ). This peptide allowed to detect variation of human exposure to Ae.…”

A Mapping Review on Urban Landscape Factors of Dengue Retrieved from Earth Observation Data, GIS Techniques, and Survey Questionnaires

“…Discursive links between dengue and poverty may have contributed to an inappropriate transfer of globally dominant dengue control strategies to non-poor local environment [73]. From this perspective, the quantification of human exposure to Aedes bites through salivary antibody-based biomarkers may be a promising method for estimating the influence of the bio-physical environment on human-Aedes contact [74]. Only two articles used landscape metrics to explore the impact of more in-depth ecological characteristics of an urban landscape on dengue transmission (ids: 57, 69).…”

Current vector research challenges in the greater Mekong subregion for dengue, Malaria, and Other Vector-Borne Diseases: A report from a multisectoral workshop March 2019

“…In theory, vaccinated individuals would mount a rapid, Th1-skewed response to pathogens codeposited with mosquito saliva and thus interrupt the pathogen’s ability to establish infection in the dermis [ 34 ]. Vector saliva-based vaccines are in the nascent stages of development, with a single Phase I candidate composed of Anopheles gambiae salivary peptides [ 35 ], but there is growing interest in alternative utilities of vector saliva such as (1) its use as an adjuvant in a pathogen-targeted vaccine as seen in leishmaniasis [ 36 ]; (2) its use to differentiate risk of exposure to the pathogen and/or subsequent development of disease [ 37 – 46 ]; or (3) its role in the context of travel medicine. In terms of protection for the traveler, most saliva-specific total immunoglobulin G (IgG) has a duration of less than four months whereby saliva-vaccine induced protection could be appropriately transient, but possibly broad against infections by a vector such as Aedes aegypti , which transmits several pathogens of public health relevance (DENV, ZIKV, CHIKV, and YFV) [ 47 ].…”