Study on cutaneous immune response to mosquito bites

Viruses transmitted by mosquitoes can cause severe diseases, particularly in tropical areas. Animal models and laboratory studies have shown that mosquito saliva, which is transmitted during a mosquito bite, can induce an immune response in the skin. In our current study we evaluated the induction of the immune response after bite of the Aedes mosquito (tiger mosquito, which transmits dengue and chikungunya) for the first time in human volunteers. Early after the mosquito bite, innate immune cells, which are the first line of defense in our body, are recruited to the bite site, initiating the immune response to the mosquito bite. As the time passes, cells from the adaptive immune response engage and resolve the final stages of the immune response. We also observed that immune cells that were in contact with mosquito saliva produced less soluble inflammatory mediators. These results help us to develop universal vaccines or treatments against viral infections transmitted by mosquito’s.

This work is a collaborative study with the National Institutes of Health, USA,  the National Center of Parasitology, Entomology, and Malaria Control, Cambodia and the Institut de Recherche pour le Developpement (IRD)

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