Editorial

VIRAL IMMUNOLOGY Volume 28, Number 2, 2015 ª Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. P. 75 DOI: 10.1089/vim.2015.1502

Vaccines Against Dengue Virus David L. Woodland

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with this recombinant vaccine did not accelerate virus clearance in SFTS virus-infected mice. Three papers in this issue of Viral Immunology focus on viruses that cause persistent infections and are responsible for significant disease in humans. Shen et al. have explored the effects of hepatitis B virus (HBV) activated lymphocytes on in vitro HBV replication. Their data revealed inhibitory effects on ex vivo HBV replication that appeared to be mediated by cytokines. Shi et al. address the issue of interleukin-35 production by mouse and human regulatory T-cells (Tregs). It is secreted by murine Tregs, but whether it is produced by human Tregs is controversial. By investigating Tregs in chronic HBV patients, the authors show the human Tregs secrete interleukin-35 and that this cytokine may act to accelerate liver inflammation and necrosis while inhibiting the synthesis function. Another important persistent virus is the human cytomegalovirus (HCMV). Slavov et al. have examined the molecular and genotypic characteristics of HCMV in patients with sickle cell disease and beta-thalassemia major and in volunteer blood donors by viral load quantitation, viral protein genotyping, and phylogenetic analysis. The data indicate that patients with sickle cell disease demonstrated the highest HCMV DNA prevalence, with lower levels observed in patients with beta-thalassemia major and in blood donors. Finally, Yue et al. have examined the expression of programmed death-ligands in pigs infected with porcine circovirus type 2 and exhibiting postweaning multisystemic wasting syndrome. Their data suggest that overexpression of PD-L1 and PD-L2 mRNA is one cause of immunosuppression in infected pigs, suggesting opportunities for new therapeutic strategies based on PD-L. I would like to thank all of the authors for their excellent contributions to this issue of the journal. Also, I wish to thank the reviewers for their time and expertise. Without their contributions, Viral Immunology would not be published. A list of those who reviewed for the journal in 2014 appears at the end of this issue.

engue virus is a mosquito-borne single positivestranded RNA virus that can cause dengue fever, also known as break-bone fever. Symptoms include fever, headache, and muscle and joint pain. In a small proportion of cases, the disease develops into life-threatening hemorrhagic syndrome. Currently, there are no specific dengue therapeutics or approved vaccines, although there is a candidate vaccine that has progressed to phase III efficacy studies with positive data published in November 2014. In a review article in this issue of Viral Immunology, Ramakrishnan et al. point out that dengue virus infection poses a threat to endemic regions for four key reasons: (a) the presence of four serotypes, each with the ability to cause a similar disease outcome, including fatality; (b) difficulties related to vector control; (c) the lack of specific treatment; and (d) the nonavailability of a suitable vaccine. The authors go on to discuss vaccine strategies, including live attenuated vaccines, chimeric, DNA-based, recombinant subunit, and inactivated vaccines, and highlight the benefits of the various strategies as well as the challenges in producing a safe and effective vaccine. Another emerging viral threat is chikungunya virus (CHIKV), which is responsible for numerous outbreaks all over the world. Accurate diagnosis is a key goal for the control of this emerging threat. In this regard, Bhatnagar et al. report a set of antigenic peptides that can serve as an alternative to the full-length E2 protein for immunodiagnosis of CHIKV infections. The peptides report E2 responses with high sensitivity and specificity. In addition to CHIKV, another emerging viral threat is the novel phlebovirus, which causes severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS). SFTS virus has a wide distribution and a high case-fatality rate, and there are no effective treatments or vaccines available to treat and prevent this disease to date. Liu et al. have tested recombinant SFTS virus nonstructural protein for inducing antiviral antibodies that block infection in C57BL/6J mice. Unfortunately, vaccination

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Vaccines against dengue virus.

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