Circulating Levels of Soluble MICB in Infants with Symptomatic Primary Dengue Virus Infections

Dengue is the most prevalent arthropod-borne viral illness in humans. A MHC class I polypeptide-related sequence B (MICB) single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) was previously associated with symptomatic dengue compared to non-dengue causes of acute febrile illnesses in infants. We measured circulating levels of soluble (s)MICB in the sera of infants with symptomatic primary dengue virus infections. We found that serum levels of sMICB increased between pre-infection and acute illness among infants with symptomatic primary dengue virus infections. The likelihood of being hospitalized with an acute primary DENV infection during infancy also tended to be higher with increasing acute illness sMICB levels. The elevation of sMICB during acute primary DENV infections in infants likely represents an immune evasion strategy and contributes to the severity of the acute illness.