Presentation of the Unit Arthropod-borne viruses (arboviruses)
are the causative agents of some of the most important emerging
infectious diseases, circulating mostly in tropical and
subtropical areas and raising threat for developed countries.
Among them, some Flaviviruses, Alphaviruses and Bunyaviruses
like dengue (DENV), chikungunya (CHIKV) and Rift Valley fever
(RVFV) viruses have a large public health impact. Vaccines and
antiviral drugs are so far dramatically lacking. Our efforts
focus on the pathogenesis of hemorrhagic fevers associated to
RVFV and DENV in mammals and on the molecular basis underlying
the lack of pathogenicity in the mosquito vector using RVFV or
CHIKV as models. With the aim to extend such studies to another
vector borne disease, Lyme disease, our Research unit hosts also
the National Reference Center for Borrelia. Role of
nonstructural proteins in pathogenesis The RVFV nonstructural
protein NSs is a factor of virulence antagonizing interferon-ß
(IFN-ß) gene transcription. We identif