Dengue viruses cluster antigenically but not as discrete serotypes

Abstract

The four genetically divergent dengue virus (DENV) types are traditionally classified as serotypes. Antigenic and genetic differences among the DENV types influence disease outcome, vaccine-induced protection, epidemic magnitude, and viral evolution. We characterized antigenic diversity in the DENV types by antigenic maps constructed from neutralizing antibody titers obtained from African green monkeys and after human vaccination and natural infections. Genetically, geographically, and temporally, diverse DENV isolates clustered loosely by type, but we found many are as similar antigenically to a virus of a different type as to some viruses of the same type. Primary infection antisera did not neutralize all viruses of the same DENV type any better than other types did up to two years after infection and did not show improved neutralization to homologous type isolates. That the canonical DENV types are not antigenically homogenous has implications for vaccination and research on the dynamics of immunity, disease, and the evolution of DENV.

Neutralizing antibody titers against dengue virus correlate with protection from symptomatic infection in a longitudinal cohort

“…The sequence of infecting serotypes has been shown to be important in other cohorts and settings (29,30). In future studies, by using higher-resolution antigenic and epidemiological data, it may be possible to identify the specific antigenic relationship between the 1°and 2°infecting DENV isolates, particularly if using Nicaraguan strains, rather than prototype isolates, for the neutralization assays (32).…”

Is Predominant Clonal Evolution a Common Evolutionary Adaptation to Parasitism in Pathogenic Parasitic Protozoa, Fungi, Bacteria, and Viruses?

“…It has been inferred that the linkage between subtypes and serotypes was less strict than what was classically thought. However, it remains statistically very strong (Katzelnick et al, 2015). The four subtypes are stable since at least 1943, and circulate sympatrically, especially in Latin America and Asia, which provides ample opportunity for mating (Messina et al, 2014).…”

Back-to-the-future potential for autochthonous transmission of Aedes aegypti-transmitted viruses in eThekwini and urban coastal KwaZulu-Natal Province, South Africa

“…[7] Some residents suffered haemorrhagic manifestations now associated with repeat infections involving another of the four DENV types. [2,[8][9][10][11][12] A 1996 SAMJ editorial suggested that the 1926/27 epidemic occurred during a brace of remarkably wet years when the rainfall was five and eight times greater than the historical average. [13] However, the Durban rainfall during 1925/26 was the lowest then on record and drought persisted through the first months of the 1927 epidemic, before plentiful March rains.…”