Neutralization and Antibody-Dependent Enhancement of Dengue Viruses

Publisher Summary This chapter highlights the neutralization and protection against dengue infection by antibodies and relevant clinical and epidemiological and experimental studies that support the phenomenon of antibody-dependent enhanced (ADE) are discussed. Epidemiological studies provide the background evidence that shows ADE to be a biologically plausible hypothesis. Several mechanisms have been proposed for the neutralization of viruses in vivo : aggregation of viruses resulting in elimination by phagocytic cells; blocked attachment to one or another cell receptor by (a) stearic interference, (b) capsid stabilization, or (c) structural changes; or neutralization of uncoating due to (a) capsid stabilization or (b) interference with fusion.