Studies on the inhibition of viral entry of flaviviruses

Abstract

Dengue virus serotypes 1-4 (DENV1-4) cause serious febrile illness in humans, including Dengue haemorrhagic fever (DHF) and Dengue shock syndrome (DSS). Presence of avid neutralizing antibodies during clinical illness is critical in the outcome of clinical disease and severity of manifestations. Presently there are no specific anti-flaviviral therapeutic agents or an effective vaccine available for clinical use. In the current study, the possibilities of using the DENV envelope protein domain III (Ed3), as it possesses receptor binding activity, as a possible competitor to whole virus for entry into host cell receptor was explored.