Mayaro fever: A brief review on the immune profile

Abstract

Mayaro virus is an emergent alphavirus that infects humans, leading to Mayaro fever. Approximately fifty percent of infected patients develop arthritis symptoms in the recovery phase, a phase that can last up to a year. The literature about Mayaro virus infection and its immune response is scarce, which may hamper the development of treatment strategies. We summarize changes in cytokines and chemokines in the acute and recovery phase in Mayaro virus infected patients, and relate this molecular characterization with the immune response. VEGF and IL-12/p70 show pronounced changes in patients in the acute phase, suggesting the development of cellular immunity and Th1 response. IL-6, IL-7, CXCL8/IL-8, IL-13, IL-17, and IFN-γ are elevated in patients with arthritis symptoms in the long-term recovery phase, which may be related to the continuous inflammatory process, a possible Th2 inhibiting and promoting Th17 process. Although few studies discuss the issue, with a small number of patients and different backgrounds, inflammatory and immune response and manifestations seem to be closely linked. This information may help to develop the appropriate treatment strategies in Mayaro virus infection. Therefore, we analyzed and summarized data available in literature.

Keywords

• emergent virus; mayaro virus; cytokines; chemokine; molecular characterization