Gene Expression Profiling of Dengue Virus Infection in Cell Lines and Patients

Researchers at the Novartis Institute for Tropical Diseases and the Genome Institute of Singapore have identified new host genes associated with dengue virus infection, which may open new avenues to developing a drug to treat the disease. Dengue is the most prevalent mosquito-born viral disease affecting humans. Dengue-related disease results in an estimated 50-100 million cases of dengue fever and 250,000 to 500,000 cases of dengue hemorrhagic fever/dengue shock syndrome each year. Yet there is, at present, no drug treatment at all for the disease nor are there any validated host targets for therapeutic intervention.