KSHB 41 reporter Megan Abundis covers Kansas City, including neighborhoods in the southern parts of the city. Have a story idea to share with Megan? Send her a tip.
—
Recent work published by the Kansas City Stowers Institute for Medical Research on how diseases are transferred by mosquitoes could pave the way for new treatments and vaccines.
Globally, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says millions of people are infected with cases of dengue fever.
Some cases are now surfacing in the southern United States, and currently, there are no treatments available for this debilitating disease.
KSHB 41's Megan Abundis caught up with the scientists behind the research and is sharing the findings.
"Unfortunately, the cases of dengue are increasing in the world," said Ariel Bazzini, an associate investigator at the Stowers Institute. "One reason might be climate change and we have mosquitoes in areas where we didn’t normally have before."
Luciana Castellano, a postdoctoral researcher at Stowers Institute, talked about some of the strategies used by scientists there.
"We care about what we do," Castellano said. "Once we understand what’s happening with the viruses, we can design our own strategies on how to fight back."
Martin Pallares, another postdoctoral researcher, said the research he does is personal for him.
"It was very important for me to do research on these viruses that affect a lot of Latin American countries," Pallares said. "If we don’t study these viruses, who is going to study them? Luciana works with dengue; I work with zika."
Under Bazzini’s lab direction, Castellano and Pallares, all of whom are from Argentina, are working in Kansas City to take on viruses spread by mosquitoes.
They were able to look at cells so closely that they found the viruses invasion strategies.
"It’s really exciting to discover something and feel you are contributing with new knowledge," Castellano said.
The team has discovered how dengue virus and many other viruses replicate in their hosts.
The findings published last week in Molecular Systems Biology, a scientific journal, reveal that dengue virus uses unique strategies to hijack the protein-making machinery of mosquito and human cells.
Their work could possibly lead to eventual anti-viral therapies.
Castellano explained she was the first person across the Stowers Institute to start looking into foundational research of dengue fever.
"We discovered how the virus infects, how it hijacked the cell, and how it takes control of the cell's resources," she said. “A mechanism called coding optimality that involves the translation of proteins in the cell looked at how the virus uses the mechanism; this means to understand all of these mechanisms and how the virus acts can help us understand how to fight back."
For Castellano, her work is also personal.
She explained the desperation for bug spray and the reality of being covered head to toe in the summer.
"I’m from Buenos Aires. I’m thankful I wasn’t infected with dengue virus, but I am scared for my friends and my family," she said. "It wasn’t a risk in Buenos Aires, but there are a lot of people there, and it’s a problem if people start getting infected because it spreads really fast, and that’s what happened this year. I was scared all the time, especially for my grandmother; she’s 92 years old."
Pallares started working with Dengue and Zika seven years ago in an Argentina laboratory. He says his work is more than just a job.
"Twice I have had dengue fever, so this work was kind of personal," Pallares said. “It’s very important to share our knowledge and why we are studying what we are studying. We are studying things that are very important; we aren’t doing science just because we love science. We do love science, but we are trying to find answers to questions that are going to help us. We have to act now so we can stop this virus."
His latest work focuses on the zika virus.
“What I discovered is that the virus, zika virus, actually takes control of the innate response of the cells, of the immune response of the cells, and used the immune response to suppress the immune response, hijack it — it takes control," he said.
He says the mechanism is mirrored in other viruses, and it may eventually leading to anti-viral therapies.
"It’s important because if this is shared of the families of viruses transmitted by mosquitoes, we are going to be prepared for the next outbreak," he said. "I feel very proud of what we studied in Argentina."
—