HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) All Versions of this Article: vir.0.004416-0v1 90/4/810    most recent Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via CrossRef Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Becerra, A. Articles by Bosch, I. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Becerra, A. Articles by Bosch, I. Agricola Articles by Becerra, A. Articles by Bosch, I.

Increased activity of indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase in serum from acutely infected dengue patients linked to gamma interferon antiviral function

Aniuska Becerra^1,

Rajas V. Warke^1,

¹ Center for Infectious Disease and Vaccine Research, University of Massachusetts Medical School, 55 Lake Avenue North, Worcester, MA 01655, USA
² University of Massachusetts Medical School Proteomic and Mass Spectrometry Core Facility, 365 Plantation Street, Worcester, MA 01605, USA
³ Banco Municipal de Sangre del Distrito Capital, San Jose, Caracas, Venezuela

Correspondence
Irene Bosch
irene.bosch{at}umassmed.edu

The depletion of L-tryptophan (L-Trp) has been associated with the inhibition of growth of micro-organisms and also has profound effects on T cell proliferation and immune tolerance. The enzyme indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase (IDO) catalyses the rate-limiting step in the catabolic pathway of L-Trp. Gene expression analysis has shown upregulation of genes involved in L-Trp catabolism in in vitro models of dengue virus (DENV) infection. To understand the role of IDO during DENV infection, we measured IDO activity in sera from control and DENV-infected patients. We found increased IDO activity, lower levels of L-Trp and higher levels of L-kynurenine in sera from DENV-infected patients during the febrile days of the disease compared with patients with other febrile illnesses and healthy donors. Furthermore, we confirmed upregulation of IDO mRNA expression in response to DENV infection in vitro, using a dendritic cell (DC) model of DENV infection. We found that the antiviral effect of gamma interferon (IFN-) in DENV-infected DCs in vitro was partially dependent on IDO activity. Our results demonstrate that IDO plays an important role in the antiviral effect of IFN- against DENV infection in vitro and suggest that it has a role in the immune response to DENV infections in vivo.

These authors contributed equally to this work.