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Dengue virus (DV), an arthropod-borne flavivirus, causes a febrile illness or severe hemorrhagic fev
er for which there is no effective antiviral treatment and no vaccine available. It is still not cle
arly understood which tissue cells are the natural targets of DV. In addition to monocytes/ macropha
ges, neuron, hepatocytes, endothelial cells, B lymphcytes and dendritic cells have also been reporte
d as potential targets for DV. Recent studies have demonstrated two subsets of dendritic cells, mono
cyte-derived dendritic cells and human skin Langerhans cells are targets for dengue virus infection.
We are interested whether mouse dendritic cells can be infected by DV. Large numbers of dendritic c
ells from mouse bone marrow cultures supplemented with Granulocyte/ Macrophage Colony-stimulating Fa
ctor (GM-CSF) were generated. We found that bone marrow-derived dendritic cells (BMDC) can be infect
ed with dengue virus. At 24 hours post-infection, negative- and positive-strand viral genome was det
ected on low density BMDC by RT-PCR, viral antigens were also detected by immunofluorescence analysi
s. The efficiency of DV infection on BMDC was extremely low, because BMDC express Type 1 Interferon.
Furthermore, DV was injected subcutaneously into mouse skin to mimic mosquito bite. The spread of D
V from inoculation site to the draining lymph node was characterized. The lymph node dendritic cells
were isolated by optiprep gradient and the viral antigen was analyzed by immunofluorescence assays.
The efficiency of DV infection on mouse cells was extremely low. A mouse hepatoma cell ML-15a can s
upport dengue virus replication. This DV2 infected-ML-15a cell was inoculated into mouse footpad. DV
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