Chikungunya virus infection in the skin: histopathology and cutaneous immunological response
Alphavirus chikungunya virus (CHIKV) is an arbovirus, belonging to the Togaviridae family. The disease caused by CHIKV generally evolves with spontaneous resolution in a few weeks; however, progression to a chronic disease may occur. The most common symptoms are fever, myalgia, and arthralgia; howev...
Saved in:
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Frontiers Media S.A.
2025-01-01
|
| Series: | Frontiers in Microbiology |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2025.1497354/full |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1832583733152055296 |
|---|---|
| author | Natália Gedeão Salomão Natália Gedeão Salomão Luciana Araújo Luiz José de Souza Anna Luiza Young Carlos Basílio-de-Oliveira Rodrigo Panno Basílio-de-Oliveira Jorge José de Carvalho Priscilla Conrado Guerra Nunes Juliana Fernandes da Silva Amorim Douglas Valiati dos Santos Barbosa Marciano Viana Paes Kíssila Rabelo Kíssila Rabelo Flavia Dos Santos |
| author_facet | Natália Gedeão Salomão Natália Gedeão Salomão Luciana Araújo Luiz José de Souza Anna Luiza Young Carlos Basílio-de-Oliveira Rodrigo Panno Basílio-de-Oliveira Jorge José de Carvalho Priscilla Conrado Guerra Nunes Juliana Fernandes da Silva Amorim Douglas Valiati dos Santos Barbosa Marciano Viana Paes Kíssila Rabelo Kíssila Rabelo Flavia Dos Santos |
| author_sort | Natália Gedeão Salomão |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Alphavirus chikungunya virus (CHIKV) is an arbovirus, belonging to the Togaviridae family. The disease caused by CHIKV generally evolves with spontaneous resolution in a few weeks; however, progression to a chronic disease may occur. The most common symptoms are fever, myalgia, and arthralgia; however, skin manifestations may occur in 40 to 80% of infected individuals. Morbilliform and maculopapular erythematous eruptions, vesiculobullous lesions, generalized erythema, maculopapular eruption and skin peeling, hypermelanosis, painful oral lesions, and urticarial lesions have been reported. Usually, these manifestations disappear, but they can become sequelae. Since the skin is the first line of defense against CHIKV infection, in this study, we aimed to investigate the immunohistopathological aspects of the skin of infected individuals during the acute phase of the disease by performing histopathological and ultrastructural analysis, detection and quantification of the viral genome, detection of viral antigen and immune cells, and cytokines/chemokines’ characterization. The main histopathological findings were perivascular and inflammatory infiltrates, blood capillary ectasia, and interstitial edema. The immunohistochemistry revealed CHIKV antigen in the epidermis, endothelial cells, fibroblasts, and macrophages in the reticular and papillary dermis; inflammatory cells infiltrate; arrector pili muscle; sweat and sebaceous glands; and hair follicle. Moreover, inflammatory infiltrates were composed of lymphocytes (CD4+ and CD8+) and macrophages (CD68+) in the dermis and perivascular infiltrate. TNF-α, IL-6, RANTES, and VEGFR2 were expressed in the epidermis, blood vessels, sweat glands, and migrating cells. Loss of contact among adjacent keratinocytes, epidermis presenting necrotic cells, and fibroblasts with dilated cisternae in the endoplasmic reticulum and mitochondria with few cristae was observed by transmission electron microscopy. Studies involving skin immunopathogenesis during CHIKV infection are still scarce; therefore, the findings presented here can contribute to a better understanding of the disease immunopathogenesis. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-a3563e8a4f61435892e2e3a240e12b4f |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1664-302X |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Microbiology |
| spelling | doaj-art-a3563e8a4f61435892e2e3a240e12b4f2025-01-28T06:41:27ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Microbiology1664-302X2025-01-011610.3389/fmicb.2025.14973541497354Chikungunya virus infection in the skin: histopathology and cutaneous immunological responseNatália Gedeão Salomão0Natália Gedeão Salomão1Luciana Araújo2Luiz José de Souza3Anna Luiza Young4Carlos Basílio-de-Oliveira5Rodrigo Panno Basílio-de-Oliveira6Jorge José de Carvalho7Priscilla Conrado Guerra Nunes8Juliana Fernandes da Silva Amorim9Douglas Valiati dos Santos Barbosa10Marciano Viana Paes11Kíssila Rabelo12Kíssila Rabelo13Flavia Dos Santos14Laboratório das Interações Vírus-Hospedeiros, Instituto Oswaldo Cruz/Fundação Oswaldo Cruz (IOC/Fiocruz), Rio de Janeiro, BrazilLaboratório Interdisciplinar de Pesquisas Médicas, Instituto Oswaldo Cruz/Fundação Oswaldo Cruz (IOC/Fiocruz), Rio de Janeiro, BrazilDepartamento de Anatomia Patológica, Universidade Federal do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (UNIRIO), Rio de Janeiro, BrazilFaculdade de Medicina de Campos, Campos dos Goytacazes, BrazilFaculdade de Medicina de Campos, Campos dos Goytacazes, BrazilDepartamento de Anatomia Patológica, Universidade Federal do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (UNIRIO), Rio de Janeiro, BrazilDepartamento de Anatomia Patológica, Universidade Federal do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (UNIRIO), Rio de Janeiro, BrazilLaboratório de Ultraestrutura e Biologia Tecidual, Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (UERJ), Rio de Janeiro, BrazilLaboratório das Interações Vírus-Hospedeiros, Instituto Oswaldo Cruz/Fundação Oswaldo Cruz (IOC/Fiocruz), Rio de Janeiro, BrazilLaboratório de Análise Imunomolecular, Instituto de Tecnologia em Imunobiológicos (Bio-Manguinhos/Fiocruz), Rio de Janeiro, BrazilLaboratório de Análise Imunomolecular, Instituto de Tecnologia em Imunobiológicos (Bio-Manguinhos/Fiocruz), Rio de Janeiro, BrazilLaboratório das Interações Vírus-Hospedeiros, Instituto Oswaldo Cruz/Fundação Oswaldo Cruz (IOC/Fiocruz), Rio de Janeiro, BrazilLaboratório Interdisciplinar de Pesquisas Médicas, Instituto Oswaldo Cruz/Fundação Oswaldo Cruz (IOC/Fiocruz), Rio de Janeiro, BrazilLaboratório de Ultraestrutura e Biologia Tecidual, Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (UERJ), Rio de Janeiro, BrazilLaboratório das Interações Vírus-Hospedeiros, Instituto Oswaldo Cruz/Fundação Oswaldo Cruz (IOC/Fiocruz), Rio de Janeiro, BrazilAlphavirus chikungunya virus (CHIKV) is an arbovirus, belonging to the Togaviridae family. The disease caused by CHIKV generally evolves with spontaneous resolution in a few weeks; however, progression to a chronic disease may occur. The most common symptoms are fever, myalgia, and arthralgia; however, skin manifestations may occur in 40 to 80% of infected individuals. Morbilliform and maculopapular erythematous eruptions, vesiculobullous lesions, generalized erythema, maculopapular eruption and skin peeling, hypermelanosis, painful oral lesions, and urticarial lesions have been reported. Usually, these manifestations disappear, but they can become sequelae. Since the skin is the first line of defense against CHIKV infection, in this study, we aimed to investigate the immunohistopathological aspects of the skin of infected individuals during the acute phase of the disease by performing histopathological and ultrastructural analysis, detection and quantification of the viral genome, detection of viral antigen and immune cells, and cytokines/chemokines’ characterization. The main histopathological findings were perivascular and inflammatory infiltrates, blood capillary ectasia, and interstitial edema. The immunohistochemistry revealed CHIKV antigen in the epidermis, endothelial cells, fibroblasts, and macrophages in the reticular and papillary dermis; inflammatory cells infiltrate; arrector pili muscle; sweat and sebaceous glands; and hair follicle. Moreover, inflammatory infiltrates were composed of lymphocytes (CD4+ and CD8+) and macrophages (CD68+) in the dermis and perivascular infiltrate. TNF-α, IL-6, RANTES, and VEGFR2 were expressed in the epidermis, blood vessels, sweat glands, and migrating cells. Loss of contact among adjacent keratinocytes, epidermis presenting necrotic cells, and fibroblasts with dilated cisternae in the endoplasmic reticulum and mitochondria with few cristae was observed by transmission electron microscopy. Studies involving skin immunopathogenesis during CHIKV infection are still scarce; therefore, the findings presented here can contribute to a better understanding of the disease immunopathogenesis.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2025.1497354/fullchikungunya virushistopathologyskinimmunohistochemistryimmune response |
| spellingShingle | Natália Gedeão Salomão Natália Gedeão Salomão Luciana Araújo Luiz José de Souza Anna Luiza Young Carlos Basílio-de-Oliveira Rodrigo Panno Basílio-de-Oliveira Jorge José de Carvalho Priscilla Conrado Guerra Nunes Juliana Fernandes da Silva Amorim Douglas Valiati dos Santos Barbosa Marciano Viana Paes Kíssila Rabelo Kíssila Rabelo Flavia Dos Santos Chikungunya virus infection in the skin: histopathology and cutaneous immunological response Frontiers in Microbiology chikungunya virus histopathology skin immunohistochemistry immune response |
| title | Chikungunya virus infection in the skin: histopathology and cutaneous immunological response |
| title_full | Chikungunya virus infection in the skin: histopathology and cutaneous immunological response |
| title_fullStr | Chikungunya virus infection in the skin: histopathology and cutaneous immunological response |
| title_full_unstemmed | Chikungunya virus infection in the skin: histopathology and cutaneous immunological response |
| title_short | Chikungunya virus infection in the skin: histopathology and cutaneous immunological response |
| title_sort | chikungunya virus infection in the skin histopathology and cutaneous immunological response |
| topic | chikungunya virus histopathology skin immunohistochemistry immune response |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2025.1497354/full |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT nataliagedeaosalomao chikungunyavirusinfectionintheskinhistopathologyandcutaneousimmunologicalresponse AT nataliagedeaosalomao chikungunyavirusinfectionintheskinhistopathologyandcutaneousimmunologicalresponse AT lucianaaraujo chikungunyavirusinfectionintheskinhistopathologyandcutaneousimmunologicalresponse AT luizjosedesouza chikungunyavirusinfectionintheskinhistopathologyandcutaneousimmunologicalresponse AT annaluizayoung chikungunyavirusinfectionintheskinhistopathologyandcutaneousimmunologicalresponse AT carlosbasiliodeoliveira chikungunyavirusinfectionintheskinhistopathologyandcutaneousimmunologicalresponse AT rodrigopannobasiliodeoliveira chikungunyavirusinfectionintheskinhistopathologyandcutaneousimmunologicalresponse AT jorgejosedecarvalho chikungunyavirusinfectionintheskinhistopathologyandcutaneousimmunologicalresponse AT priscillaconradoguerranunes chikungunyavirusinfectionintheskinhistopathologyandcutaneousimmunologicalresponse AT julianafernandesdasilvaamorim chikungunyavirusinfectionintheskinhistopathologyandcutaneousimmunologicalresponse AT douglasvaliatidossantosbarbosa chikungunyavirusinfectionintheskinhistopathologyandcutaneousimmunologicalresponse AT marcianovianapaes chikungunyavirusinfectionintheskinhistopathologyandcutaneousimmunologicalresponse AT kissilarabelo chikungunyavirusinfectionintheskinhistopathologyandcutaneousimmunologicalresponse AT kissilarabelo chikungunyavirusinfectionintheskinhistopathologyandcutaneousimmunologicalresponse AT flaviadossantos chikungunyavirusinfectionintheskinhistopathologyandcutaneousimmunologicalresponse |