Dados do Trabalho

Título

MOLECULAR MIMICRY AS ONE OF THE POSSIBLE MECHANISMS ASSOCIATED WITH PHENOTYPES OF DEMYELINIZING EVENTS IN PATIENTS INFECTED WITH ZIKA VIRUS

Resumo

Evidences observed during the Zika Vírus (ZikV) epidemic in Brazil indicate a strong link between the Zika infection and neurological complications. Acute myelitis, optic neuritis, polyneuropathy and encephalomyelitis that mimic inflammatory idiopathic demyelination disorders (IIDD) of the Central Nervous System (CNS) after ZikV infection have been reported. The present study aims to investigate the possible occurrence of molecular mimicry between ZikV antigens and Multiple Sclerosis (MS) autoantigens, the most frequent IIDD of the CNS. A retrospective cohort study with 305 patients admitted due to suspected arbovirus infection in 3 university hospitals in Rio de Janeiro was performed. All patients were submitted to neurological examination and biological sample was collected for serologic and molecular diagnostic by a multidisciplinary team. Bioinformatics tools were used to analyze the peptides shared between ZikV antigens and MS autoantigens and their conformation. Of 305 patients, twenty-six were positive for ZikV and 4 presented IDD pattern found in MS cases. Sequence homology comparisons by bioinformatics approach between NS5 ZikV and PLP MS protein revealed a homology of 5/6 consecutive amino acids (CSSVPV/CSAVPV) with 83% identity. Analysis of the 3D structures revealed a similar conformation with alpha helix presentation in a perfect align, which can deduce a molecular mimicry. Molecular mimicry between NS5 Zika virus antigen and PLP MS autoantigens emerge as a possible mechanism for IDD spectrum in genetically susceptible individuals.

Palavras Chave

ZIKA VIRUS;

Área

Neuroinfecção