Experimental Infection of Squirrel Monkeys with Nipah Virus

We infected squirrel monkeys (Saimiri sciureus) with Nipah virus to determine the monkeys’ suitability for use as primate models in preclinical testing of preventive and therapeutic treatments. Infection of squirrel monkeys through intravenous injection was followed by high death rates associated with acute neurologic and respiratory illness and viral RNA and antigen production

Nonstructural Nipah virus C protein regulates both the early host proinflammatory response and viral virulence.

International audienceNipah virus (NiV) is a highly pathogenic, negative-strand RNA paramyxovirus that has recently emerged from flying foxes to cause serious human disease. We have analyzed the role of the nonstructural NiV C protein in viral immunopathogenesis using recombinant virus lacking the expression of NiV C (NiVΔC). While wild-type NiV was highly pathogenic in the hamster animal model, NiVΔC was strongly attenuated. Replication of NiVΔC was followed by the production of NiV-specific antibodies and associated with higher recruitment of inflammatory cells and less intensive histopathological lesions in different organs than in wild-type-NiV-infected animals. To analyze the molecular basis of NiVΔC attenuation, we studied early changes in gene expression in infected primary human endothelial cells, a major cellular target of NiV infection. The transcriptomic approach revealed the striking difference between wild-type and mutant NiV in the expression of genes involved in immunity, with the particularly interesting differential patterns of proinflammatory cytokines. Compared to wild-type virus, NiVΔC induced increased expression of interleukin 1 beta (IL-1β), IL-8, CXCL2, CXCL3, CXCL6, CCL20, and beta interferon. Furthermore, the expression of NiV C in stably transfected cells decreased the production of the same panel of cytokines, revealing a role of the C protein in the regulation of cytokine balance. Together, these results suggest that NiV C regulates expression of proinflammatory cytokines, therefore providing a signal responsible for the coordination of leukocyte recruitment and the chemokine-induced immune response and controlling the lethal outcome of the infection