Abstract:
Dengue virus (DV) is a mosquito-borne flavivirus largely distributed among
human intertropical populations and now considered as one of the major reemerging
diseases. The hallmark of the pathology associated with Dengue virus is an etiological
agent of a hemorrhagic fever, often leading to a fatal shock-like syndrome which is
caused by the degradation of the endothelial extracellular matrix and an increase in the
permeability of vascular endothelium. However, the molecular mechanism(s)
underlying the changes in endothelial cell function remain, as yet, unclear. In the
present study, it is shown that in vitro generated immature dendritic cells produce high
levels of active matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) MMP-2, MMP-9 and MMP-13,
following infection with the Dengue viral strain DV2-16681. Culture supernatants
derived from infected either primary immature dendritic cells or primary human
umbilical vein endothelial cells were found to induce increased endothelial
permeability, in an MMP-dependent manner, as measured on confluent layers of
primary human umbilical vein endothelial cells. Moreover, these supernatants
disrupted endothelial cell-cell interactions which were associated with a loss of
expression of the junctional adhesion proteins PECAM-1 and VE-cadherin, as well as
with a strong decrease in the number of F-actin stress fibers in these cells. Using either
MMP-production or MMP-activity inhibitor the mentioned adhesion proteins and cellcell
junction structures were preserved. Altogether, the results provide potential
mechanisms of the pathogenesis of DHF (Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever) critical
therapeutic targets to overcome cytopathogenic mechanisms of Dengue virus and
other viral hemorrhagic fever-inducing viruses