Genome-Wide Analysis to Identify HLA Factors Potentially Associated With Severe Dengue

The pathogenesis of dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF), following dengue virus (DENV) infection, is a complex and poorly understood phenomenon. In view of the clinical need of identifying patients with higher likelihood of developing this severe outcome, we undertook a comparative genome-wide association analysis of epitope variants from sequences available in the ViPR database that have been reported to be differentially related to dengue fever and DHF. Having enumerated the incriminated epitope variants, we determined the corresponding HLA alleles in the context of which DENV infection could potentially precipitate DHF. Our analysis considered the development of DHF in three different perspectives: (a) as a consequence of primary DENV infection, (b) following secondary DENV infection with a heterologous serotype, (c) as a result of DENV infection following infection with related flaviviruses like Zika virus, Japanese Encephalitis virus, West Nile virus, etc. Subject to experimental validation, these viral and host markers would be valuable in triaging DENV-infected patients for closer supervision owing to the relatively higher risk of poor prognostic outcome and also for the judicious allocation of scarce institutional resources during large outbreaks.