Balancing functions of regulatory T cells in mosquito-borne viral infections

ABSTRACT

Mosquito-borne viral infections are on the rise worldwide and can lead to severe symptoms such as haemorrhage, encephalitis, arthritis or microcephaly. A protective immune response following mosquito-borne viral infections requires the generation of a controlled and balanced immune response leading to viral clearance without immunopathology. Here, regulatory T cells play a central role in restoring immune homeostasis. In current review, we aim to provide an overview and summary of the phenotypes of FOXP3⁺ Tregs in various mosquito-borne arboviral disease, their association with disease severity and their functional characteristics. Furthermore, we discuss the role of cytokines and Tregs in the immunopathogenesis of mosquito-borne infections. Lastly, we discuss possible novel lines of research which could provide additional insight into the role of Tregs in mosquito-borne viral infections in order to develop novel therapeutic approaches or vaccination strategies.

KEYWORDS:

• Arboviruses
• regulatory T cells
• dengue
• immunopathology
• FOXP3

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Author contribution

SS drafted the manuscript and figures; TC and MK supervised the work. All authors approve the final version of the manuscript.

Additional information

Funding

T.C. is funded by the Pasteur network, HHMI-Wellcome Trust International Research Scholar (208710/Z/17/Z) and NIH-PICREID (1U01AI151758). S.S. is supported by a Institut Pasteur du Cambodge PhD fellowship and a BOF/BILA fellowship from the University of Hasselt. M.K. was supported by a SALK-grant from the government of Flanders, by an Odysseus-grant (Project ID G0G1216FWO) and senior research project (Project ID G080121N) of the FWO and by a BOF grant (ADMIRE, Project ID 21GP17BOF) from Hasselt University. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.