Recent Advances in DENV Receptors

Dengue is an old disease caused by the mosquito-borne dengue viruses (DENVs), which have four antigenically distinct serotypes (DENV1–4). Infection by any of them can cause dengue fever (DF) and/or a more serious disease, that is, dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF) or dengue shock syndrome (DSS). In recent decades, incidence of dengue disease has increased 30-fold, putting a third to half of the world’s population living in dengue-endemic areas at high infection risk. However, the pathogenesis of the disease is still poorly understood. The virus binding with its host cell is not only a first and critical step in their replication cycle but also a key factor for the pathogenicity. In recent years, there have been significant advances in understanding interactions of DENVs with their target cells such as dendritic cells (DC), macrophages, endothelial cells, and hepatocytes. Although DENVs reportedly attach to a variety of receptors on these cells, consensus DENV receptors have not been defined. In this review, we summarize receptors for DENVs on different cells identified in recent years.