Ricerc@Sapienza

The rapid world-wide spread of Aedes albopictus, a vector of relevant arboviral diseases like chikungunya and dengue, points up the need for better control strategies. Because of the important limits of methods currently used to assess human exposure to Aedes mosquito bites, much effort is being devoted to develop new indicators. Recently, we showed that the Ae. albopictus salivary protein al34k2, evokes specific IgG responses in mice exposed to the tiger mosquito and provided preliminary evidence of its immunogenicity to humans [1]. Also, we observe that in humans naturally exposed to the tiger mosquito bites in Italy the anti-al34k2 IgG responses appear suitable to evaluate seasonal variations of human exposure to Ae. albopictus [2]. The objective of this study is to evaluate the specific IgG response to al34k2 in individuals from different epidemiological settings where arboviruses are endemic and the main vector is Ae. albopictus. ELISA will be performed to evaluate specific IgG responses to al34k2 in adults exposed to Ae. albopictus in La Reunion Island. To check the potential cross-reactivity of al34k2 the specific IgG response will be tested in human samples exposed to Ae. aegypti in Bolivia. This would be a step forward in the establishment of a serological toolbox for the simultaneous assessment of human exposure to Aedes vectors and the pathogens they transmit.
References:
1. Buezo Montero, S.; Gabrieli, P.; Severini, F.; et al. Analysis in a murine model points to IgG responses against the 34k2 salivary proteins from Aedes albopictus and Aedes aegypti as novel promising candidate markers of host exposure to Aedes mosquitoes.2019 PLoS Negl Trop Dis 13:e0007806.
2. Buezo Montero, S.; Gabrieli, P.; Montarsi, F.; et al. IgG antibody responses to the Aedes albopictus 34k2 salivary protein as novel candidate marker of human exposure to the tiger mosquito. 2020 Front. Cell. Infect. Microbiol. (manuscript under revision, ID: 541768)