| Institution: | 1. Department of Pediatrics, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital - Kaohsiung Medical Centre, Kaohsiung, Taiwan;2. Graduate Institute of Clinical Medical Sciences, College of Medicine, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan, Taiwan;3. Department of Psychiatry, Dalin Tzu Chi Hospital, Buddhist Tzu Chi Medical Foundation, Chia-Yi, Taiwan;4. PhD Program in Enviromental and Occupation Medicine, (Taiwan) National Health Research Institutes and Kaohsiung Unversity, Taiwan;5. Department of Computer Science and Engineering, National Sun Yat-sen University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan;6. Center for Allergy and Clinical Immunology Research (ACIR) and College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan;7. School of Pharmacy, College of Pharmacy, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan;8. Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Internal Medicine, Kaohsiung Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taiwan;9. Department of Public Health and Environmental Medicine, College of Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan |
| Abstract: | BackgroundDengue fever (DF) is the most rapidly spreading mosquito-borne viral disease. Practical vaccines or specific therapeutics are still expected. Environmental factors and genetic factors affect the susceptibility of Dengue virus (DV) infection. Asthma is a common allergic disease, with house dust mites (HDMs) being the most important allergens. Asthmatic patients are susceptible to several microorganism infections.MethodsA nationwide population-based cohort analysis was designed to assess whether to determine whether asthma can be a risk factor for DF.ResultsUnexpectedly, our data from a nationwide population-based cohort revealed asthmatic patients are at a decreased risk of DF. Compared to patients without asthma, the hazard ratio (HR) for DF in patients with asthma was 0.166 (95% CI: 0.118–0.233) after adjustment for possible confounding factors. In the age stratification, the adjusted HR for DF in young adult patients with asthma was 0.063. Dendritic cell-specific intercellular adhesion molecule 3-grabbing non-integrin (DC-SIGN) of dendritic cells (DCs) is an important entry for DV. Through another in vitro experiment, we found that HDM can diminish surface expression of DC-SIGN in monocyte-derived DCs and further decrease the cellular entry of DV.ConclusionsDecreased DC-SIGN expression in DCs of allergic asthmatic patient may be one of many factors for them to be protected against DF. This could implicate the potential for DC-SIGN modulation as a candidate target for designing therapeutic strategies for DF. |
