“Most infectious diseases research focuses on treating acute symptoms and neglects to address the long-term impact of these diseases. A SPARK award would allow me to address this knowledge gap and provide an answer for countless individuals without proper diagnosis.”
2024 Tullie and Rickey Families Spark Awards Winner
Rimjhim Agarwal
Does chronic chikungunya infection resemble an autoimmune disease?
Funded: February 2024
Funded by: The generosity of the Rosemary Kraemer Raitt Foundation Trust
We need to understand why so many people infected with Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) develop chronic, arthritis-like disease. My SPARK project investigates if this mysterious arthritis-like disease resembles an autoimmune disease. I am examining whether T helper cells, a type of immune cell, may mistakenly begin to attack a person’s own cells instead of taking aim at targets on CHIKV.
Using bioinformatics, I identified 15 self-antigens (sites on healthy cells) with high sequence similarity to CHIKV antigens (sites on the virus). I then stimulated T helper cells from chronic CHIKV patients with these self-antigens.
I found no immune response, suggesting no cross-reactivity; however, this finding doesn’t rule out the possibility that T helper cells are mistaking healthy cells for viral targets. As a next step, I will further investigate by comparing the entire CHIKV proteome with the human proteome to find better sequence matches. I will also test for T helper cell cross-reactivity with other viruses, such as cytomegalovirus and Epstein-Barr virus. Understanding the role of T helper cells in chronic CHIKV disease could lead to better vaccines and treatments for people affected with virus-induced autoimmune diseases around the world.
