Structural and immunological basis of cross-reactivity between dengue and Zika infections: Implications in serosurveillance in endemic regions

Abstract

Dengue and Zika are arthropod-borne viral diseases present in more than 100 countries around the world. In the past decade, Zika emerged causing widespread outbreaks in new regions, where dengue has been endemic-epidemic for a long period. The wide and extensive dissemination of the mosquito vectors, Aedes aegypti, and Ae. albopictus, favor the co-existence of both infections in the same regions. Together with an important proportion of asymptomatic infections, similar clinical manifestations, and a short time window for acute infection confirmatory tests, it is difficult to differentially estimate both dengue and Zika incidence and prevalence. DENV and ZIKV flavivirus share high structural similarity, inducing a cross-reactive immune response that leads to false positives in serological tests particularly in secondary infections. This results in overestimation of recent Zika outbreaks seroprevalence in dengue endemic regions. In this review, we address the biological basis underlying DENV and ZIKV structural homology; the structural and cellular basis of immunological cross reactivity; and the resulting difficulties in measuring dengue and Zika seroprevalence. Finally, we offer a perspective about the need for more research to improve serological tests performance.

Evaluation of multi-peptide sequences identifiedin silicofor the serological identification of antibodies against Vector-Borne Diseases

“…This cross-reactivity is a result of B-cells development against conserved epitopes after exposure to the pathogen. 24 The surface protein OmpB of Rickettsia belonging to the Sca family was used. The Sca5 or OmpB protein is found in almost all groups of the genus Rickettsia with a molecular weight of 168 kDa.…”

“…This cross-reactivity is a result of B-cells development against conserved epitopes after exposure to the pathogen. 24…”

High seroprevalence of antibodies against arboviruses in postpartum women in Salvador, Brazil

“…For serological evaluations, we employed commercial ELISA kits with satisfactory specificities [29] . Even though, cross-reactivity among flaviviruses (ZIKV and DENV) may have occurred since DENVs and ZIKV share a high degree of similarity on the E and NS1 structural proteins, which are used as antigens in indirect serological ELISA tests [30] . One limitation of our study is the fact that neutralization testing, such as the Plaque Reduction Neutralization Test (PRNT), was not performed.…”