Some types of arthritis may be caused by mosquito-borne viruses: Study

Some therapies that are successful in treating rheumatoid arthritis RA may help improve treatment for people with debilitating mosquitoborne viral diseases new research has foundInfection caused by Chikungunya virus CHIKV and Ross River virus RRV are transmitted by mosquitoes and cause severe arthritis muscle pain and feverThe disease caused by these viral infections bears several similarities with a form of autoimmune arthritis known as Rheumatoid Arthritis RA said lead author Ali Zaid from Menzies Health Institute Queensland at Griffith University in AustraliaIn severe RA patients express high levels of an immune molecule called Interleukin17 IL17 which is a target of new antiarthritis drugs Zaid addedIn two new studies published in the journals PLoS Pathogens and mBio the researchers found IL17 was also elevated during RRV and CHIKV infectionsThe team analysed serum samples from CHIKVinfected patients collected during the 2019 outbreak in northern BrazilThey found that IL17 levels were elevated in patients with acute disease and more so in patients with chronic diseaseWhen we looked at serum samples from Ross River virus patients levels of IL17 were also elevated which prompted us to ask whether this molecule was driving disease said Helen Mostafavi from GriffithUsing an experimental mouse model of viral arthritis they found that targeting IL17 in virusinfected mice improved disease and reduced inflammationThis suggests that some therapies successful in treating RA could be of potential benefit to treat people with alphavirus disease Mostafavi saidHowever the authors found that a complete lack of IL17 was not necessarily ideal genetically modified mice that lack IL17 showed an increase in viral RNA in the postacute phase of disease despite showing reduced inflammationIn a separate study published in mBio the authors investigated the role of a protein called TRIF which cells use to sense viral RNA and start a strong antiviral response which alerts neighbouring cellsUsing genetically modified mice that lack the TRIF protein the authors found that TRIF was needed to help generate neutralising antibodies against RRVThese findings give new insights into how different arms of the immune response cooperate to ensure longlasting defence against viruses like CHIKV and RRV and will pave the way into the development of new immunotherapies to treat these diseases the researchers saidThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever