Tick-borne Viruses

Tick-borne viruses include several medically important pathogens. However, compared with mosquito-borne viruses, their interactions with their vertebrate hosts remain less extensively studied, particularly in more relevant experimental models beyond commonly used cell lines. This knowledge gap is even more pronounced regarding virus–vector interactions, which are substantially less well characterized in ticks than in mosquitoes.

Tick-borne flaviviral sfRNA as an important factor of viral infection pathogenesis in the human host and tick vector (GARC-DFG)

Tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV), a flavivirus transmitted by ixodid ticks, poses a significant public health threat, causing severe neurological diseases such as encephalitis. Recent reports of TBEV emergence in previously unaffected regions, including northern Germany and the United Kingdom, highlight its increased geographic range and the urgent need to understand its biology.

A hallmark of flavivirus infection is the production of subgenomic flaviviral RNA (sfRNA) from the 3′ untranslated region (3′UTR) during replication. While sfRNA is known to play crucial roles in mammalian and arthropod hosts, the specific interactions of TBEV-derived sfRNAs within the human host (especially the brain) remain poorly understood, and even less is known about their function in tick vectors.

This collaborative project (between researchers of the University of South Bohemia, CZ and researchers at the BNITM, DE) aims to elucidate the role of TBEV sfRNA in modulating pathogenicity and infection outcomes in both human host (specifically neural cells) and tick vectors. By using a combination of cell culture systems, cerebral organoids, omic technology and in vitro experiments, we investigate the interaction of sfRNA from two TBEV strains with contrasting pathogenic profiles. Our focus lies in identifying the molecular interactions of sfRNA with human neural and tick proteins, determining their contribution to infection success and pathogenicity. These insights could unveil novel targets for therapeutic interventions and provide predictive markers for the emergence and spread of TBEV in tick populations.