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Updated: Aug 13, 2026

A Murine Model of Dengue Virus-induced Acute Viral Encephalitis-like Disease
Published on: April 28, 2019
Non-structural proteins of dengue 2 virus offer limited protection to interferon-deficient mice after dengue 2 virus
Amanda E Calvert1, Claire Y-H Huang1, Richard M Kinney1
1Division of Vector-Borne Infectious Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Public Health Service, US Department of Health and Human Services, PO Box 2087, Fort Collins, CO 80522, USA.
Abstract:
Chimeric (D2/WN) viruses containing the pre-membrane (prM) and envelope (E) proteins of West Nile virus (WN virus) and the capsid (C) and non-structural proteins of dengue 2 (DEN2) virus were used to evaluate the protective immunity elicited by either the flaviviral E protein or non-structural proteins. AG129 interferon-deficient mice, previously shown to be protected against lethal DEN1 or DEN2 viral infection after vaccination with a wild-type or candidate vaccine strain of DEN1 or DEN2 virus, respectively, were immunized with chimeric D2/WN virus and then challenged with DEN2 virus. D2/WN chimeric viruses were non-pathogenic in AG129 mice. These viruses elicited little anti-DEN E antibody, high levels of anti-DEN NS1 antibody and no or very low levels of DEN2 virus-neutralizing antibodies. Only 15% of D2/WN-immunized mice survived challenge with DEN2 virus. However, their mean survival time increased by 11-14 days over non-immunized controls. These results suggest that, whilst the non-structural proteins were able to enhance mean survival times of AG129 mice, this protection was not as effective as protection mediated by the E protein.
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