The enzyme necessary to defeat the West Nile Virus, a virus from the RNA group that causes West Nile Fever, has been discovered, according to scientists from the US in the journal Nature Immunology.
Understanding the molecular mechanisms of the immune system’s response against the virus will allow you to take control of this and other dangerous viruses.
West Nile virus (WNV) causes West Nile Fever in animals and when transmitted by mosquitoes in humans, 80% of which are infections are asymptomatic. The remaining patients experience headaches, nausea, problems with coordination, high fever. In more severe cases, meningitis and encephalitis develop, and symptoms similar to Parkinson’s disease occur. Mortality of people hospitalized due to WNV reaches up to 35 percent.
Erol Fikrig and colleagues from Yale University discovered that the key enzyme in the smooth defeat of the virus by the immune system is the so-called caspase – 12.
Typically, the role of this enzyme is to suppress the immune system’s response to bacterial infections, but when infected with WNV (in mice), caspase-12 activates the immune response and defeats the virus effectively. The first targets of a WNV attack are neurons, and this is where caspase-12 is most active.
The authors of the study emphasize that if it turns out that the same enzyme is key to fighting the WNV virus in humans, the results of their study will find therapeutic application. (PAP)