Proteomic analysis of CHIKV-infected human fibroblast-like synoviocytes: Identification of host factors potentially associated with CHIKV replication and cellular pathogenesis.

Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) is a mosquito-borne virus that causes arthralgic fever. Fibroblast-like synoviocytes play a key role in joint damage in inflammatory arthritides and can additionally serve as target cells for CHIKV infection. To gain a better understanding of CHIKV-induced arthralgia, the interaction between CHIKV and synoviocytes was investigated at the protein level.

Heterogeneity of clinical isolates of chikungunya virus and its impact on the responses of primary human fibroblast-like synoviocytes.

Low-passage clinical isolates of chikungunya virus (CHIKV) were found to be a mixture of large- and small-plaque viruses, with small-plaque viruses being the predominant species. To investigate the contribution of plaque variants to the pathology of the joint, primary human fibroblast-like synoviocytes (HFLS) were used. Large- and small-plaque viruses were purified from two clinical isolates, CHIKV-031C and CHIKV-033C, and were designated CHIKV-031L and CHIKV-031S and CHIKV-033L and CHIKV-033S, respectively.