Innate Immune Regulation of Powassan Virus Neurovirulence

$2.38M USD

Funder	NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES
Recipient Organization	State University New York Stony Brook
Country	United States
Start Date	Jul 01, 2024
End Date	Jun 30, 2026
Duration	729 days
Number of Grantees	1
Roles	Principal Investigator
Data Source	NIH (US)
Grant ID	`10784856`

Grant Description

Powassan virus (POWV) is a neurovirulent tick-borne flavivirus (FV) emerging in the N.E. US. POWV is present in tick saliva, injected into the skin during a 15-minute tick bite and causes a 10% fatal encephalitis resulting in severe long-term neurologic damage in 50% of patients. There are currently no approved POWV

vaccines or prophylactics and the role of innate immunity in regulating POWV neuroinvasion, CNS cell targeting and neuroinflammatory pathology is unknown. To reflect POWV spread from skin to the CNS, POWV LI9 was isolated from deer ticks directly in epithelial cells. Mice inoculated s.c. with POWV LI9 develop lethal neurovirulent disease with overt murine brain damage.

Noting lethality in older mice, LI9 was found to be lethal in 90% of 50 week (wk), and