DENV2 exists as smooth spherical surface particles while growing at the mosquito’s physiological temperature (29 degrees Celsius). It then changes to bumpy surfaced particles at human physiological temperature (37 degrees Celsius). This ability to morph helps the virus to evade the immune system of the human host. Hence, understanding the mechanism behind this is important for therapeutics and vaccine development.
“Together with Professor Pei-Yong Shi from UTMB, we found that in laboratory developed DENV2 strains, mutations in the virus’ E protein causes its transformation into bumpy particles. These structural changes can cause vaccines and therapeutics to be ineffective against the virus,” said Ms Xin-Ni Lim, the study’s lead author who is from Duke-NUS’ Emerging Infectious Diseases (EID) Programme.
