Contribution of Zika Virus Envelop Protein‐Induced Autoantibodies in Neuropathy

Zika virus (ZIKV) belongs to flaviviridae family, which is transmitted by the same vectors as dengue virus (DENV). However, unlike DENV, ZIKV infection can cause neurological manifestations such as fetal neurodevelopmental retardation and microcephaly in pregnant women and Guillain‐Barré syndrome in adult. Although autoimmunity is found to contribute to neuropathy in several diseases, the correlation of autoimmunity in neuron pathogenesis of ZIKV is still unclear. According to previous study, ZIKV polypeptides share antigenic similarities with neuron cells in predicted database. To investigate whether ZIKV‐elicited antibodies (Abs) could cross react to neuron cells, we immunized mice with recombinant envelop (E) protein and nonstructural protein 1(NS1) of ZIKV and DENV to generate Abs. Compare to DENV E protein and NS1, we found that Abs against ZIKV E protein could cross react to human neuronal cell, SK‐N‐SH cell line in a dose dependent manner. In addition, the binding of Abs against ZIKV E protein could induce caspase 3 activation and pro‐apoptosis gene, Bax, transcription in vitro. Furthermore, we demonstrated that passive transfer of Abs against ZIKV E protein in early embryonic phase of pregnant mice could lead to low fertility. Taken together, we suggested that ZIKV E protein could elicit autoantibodies that contribute to neuropathy.This abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2018 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal.