Two hosts, two structures

摘要

Dengue disease is caused by four viruses of the flavivirus genus that are transmitted to humans by infected mosquitoes. Dengue infections impose a formidable burden: about 5.5% of the worlds population is infected each year, and one infection in four is symptomatic. But in spite of its impact, no effective antiviral treatment, nor a licensed vaccine, is available. Writing in Journal of Virology and in Proceedings of the National Academies of Sciences, respectively, Fibriansah et al. and Zhang et al. report that dengue virus particles display a different organization of surface glycoproteins when they are at temperatures above 34℃, as in a human body, than they do at lower temperatures, such as those found in mosquitoes. These results have important implications for understanding how the virus particles are presented to the human immune system, and how to use this knowledge to develop an effective vaccine.