Investigating the role of neutrophils in dengue virus infection

Dengue is an emerging, endemic, mosquito-borne disease in tropical regions worldwide. It causes ~390 million infections and ~40,000 deaths per year. The severity of the disease varies from asymptomatic to fatal in different people, suggesting that an individual's susceptibility and immune responses play a significant role in patients' recovery. Neutrophils are a vital component of the immune system, comprising over 50% of white blood cells in the blood. However, what they do when a person gets dengue is poorly characterised. I aim to determine whether dengue virus can infect or activate neutrophils, how they respond, and how that changes the ability of the virus to infect cells and disease severity. I will analyse the proteins in patients' blood and neutrophils to identify proteins that may be important and will then investigate the role of these in the neutrophil response. I will assess the impact of these proteins on viral infectivity and vascular dysfunction, a symptom of severe dengue disease. This project will help explain the role neutrophils play in dengue infection and whether they have a detrimental effect that increases symptoms. This will be useful in developing new treatments and therapeutics that can help those infected by dengue virus.