The Antiviral Alkaloid Berberine Reduces Chikungunya Virus-Induced Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase Signaling.

Unlabelled: Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) has infected millions of people in the tropical and subtropical regions since its reemergence in the last decade. We recently identified the nontoxic plant alkaloid berberine as an antiviral substance against CHIKV in a high-throughput screen. Here, we show that berberine is effective in multiple cell types against a variety of CHIKV strains, also at a high multiplicity of infection, consolidating the potential of berberine as an antiviral drug.

Early clearance of Chikungunya virus in children is associated with a strong innate immune response.

Chikungunya fever (CHIKF) is a global infectious disease which can affect a wide range of age groups. The pathological and immunological response upon Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) infection have been reported over the last few years. However, the clinical profile and immune response upon CHIKV infection in children remain largely unknown.

Unique epitopes recognized by antibodies induced in Chikungunya virus-infected non-human primates: implications for the study of immunopathology and vaccine development.

Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) is an Alphavirus that causes chronic and incapacitating arthralgia in humans. Although patient cohort studies have shown the production of CHIKV specific antibodies, the fine specificity of the antibody response against CHIKV is not completely defined. The macaque model of CHIKV infection was established due to limitations of clinical specimens.

Longitudinal analysis of the human antibody response to Chikungunya virus infection: implications for serodiagnosis and vaccine development.

Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) is an alphavirus which causes chronic and incapacitating arthralgia in humans. Although previous studies have shown that antibodies against the virus are produced during and after infection, the fine specificity of the antibody response against CHIKV is not known. Here, using plasma from patients at different times postinfection, we characterized the antibody response against various proteins of the virus.

Early appearance of neutralizing immunoglobulin G3 antibodies is associated with chikungunya virus clearance and long-term clinical protection.

Background: Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) and related arboviruses have been responsible for large epidemic outbreaks with serious economic and social impact. Although infected individuals clear the virus from the blood, some develop debilitating and prolonged arthralgia.

Methods: We investigated specificity and strength of antibody responses in a longitudinal study on CHIKV-infected patients and analyzed their association with viral load, cytokine profile, and severity.

Early neutralizing IgG response to Chikungunya virus in infected patients targets a dominant linear epitope on the E2 glycoprotein.

Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) and related arboviruses have been responsible for large epidemic outbreaks with serious economic and social impact. The immune mechanisms, which control viral multiplication and dissemination, are not yet known. Here, we studied the antibody response against the CHIKV surface antigens in infected patients.

SVM-based prediction of linear B-cell epitopes using Bayes Feature Extraction.

Background: The identification of B-cell epitopes on antigens has been a subject of intense research as the knowledge of these markers has great implications for the development of peptide-based diagnostics, therapeutics and vaccines. As experimental approaches are often laborious and time consuming, in silico methods for prediction of these immunogenic regions are critical. Such efforts, however, have been significantly hindered by high variability in the length and composition of the epitope sequences, making naïve modeling methods difficult to apply.

HLA class I restriction as a possible driving force for Chikungunya evolution.

After two decades of quiescence, epidemic resurgence of Chikungunya fever (CHIKF) was reported in Africa, several islands in the Indian Ocean, South-East Asia and the Pacific causing unprecedented morbidity with some cases of fatality. Early phylogenetic analyses based on partial sequences of Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) have led to speculation that the virus behind recent epidemics may result in greater pathogenicity. To understand the reasons for these new epidemics, we first performed extensive analyses of existing CHIKV sequences from its introduction in 1952 to 2009.