Via Creative Commons, A2-33, own work
A cryoelectron microscopy reconstruction of the Chikungunya virus
Chikungunya. To the clueless, the word sounds like a bad sneeze. But if you speak the language (Tanzania’s Makonde) or suffer the virus’ effects, your understanding will deepen fast.
“It means ‘to walk bent over,’” explains Washington University researcher Dr. Michael Diamond, the Herbert S. Gasser Professor of Medicine at Washington University. “That’s how painful the arthritis can be.”
The Chikungunya virus is in the Americas now, and it’s probably only a matter of time until it makes its way here. Meanwhile, if you travel to India, Asia, Africa, Europe, or the Caribbean, you can catch it from a mosquito—and when the headache goes away, the joint pain might not.
Scientists have known for years now that viruses can cause arthritis; they’re just not quite sure how it happens. But an article published today in Nature describes how Washington University School of Medicine researchers traced Chikungunya’s path into its host’s cells.
And knowing that secret pathway could help us prevent or treat the joint disease that results.
The vulnerable cells are those that build cartilage, muscle, and bone. There are tons of those cells in our joints, and they contain a protein called Mxra8. Turns out it’s a molecular “handle” the virus can grab.
One possible answer? Create a decoy handle, one that opens no doors for the virus.
Tests in lab mice are already showing success: A day after they caught the virus, its level in their ankles and calves was between 10 and 100 times lower if they’d been treated with the decoy.
More study, and we may be able to prevent that particular kind of arthritis in humans. Plus, we’ll have more insights into the damage other viruses do—and how to guard against it.
