Increased serum levels of galectin-9 in patients with chikungunya fever

•Chikungunya Fever is an arboviral disease that often evolves to a chronic inflammatory musculoskeletal symptoms.•Increased levels of galectin-9 have implications in delaying viral clearance, by reducing TCD8+ response.•Galectins 9 in involved in the physiopathology of arboviral diseases, no previous information in Chikungunya Fever is available.•Galectin-9 is increased in chikungunya chronic disease and its levels are associated with inflammatory symptoms.•Galectin-3 showed lower levels in CHIK patients, while other galectins (1,4, and 7) were similar in patients and controls. Chikungunya fever (CHIKF) is an arboviral disease that has caused an epidemic burst of chronic inflammatory joint disease in Latin America in the last few years. Efforts are being spent in understanding the mechanisms by which it may cause such articular damage and in determining possible biomarkers of the disease. Galectins (GAL) are a family of animal lectins with an affinity for beta-galactosides. They have multiple functions including working as receptors in innate immunity and as a control for inflammatory responses in both innate and adaptive immunity. They regulate functions of immune cells, such as lymphocytes and macrophages, which have a main role in the chikungunya inflammatory process. Galectins are also involved in chronification of viral diseases, participate in the immunopathogenesis of chronic joint diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, and have a role in inflammation in other arboviral diseases, such as dengue. Thus, we intended to determine the serum levels of galectin-1, -3, -4, -7, and -9 in patients with subacute and chronic articular manifestations of CHIKF and to evaluate their associations with clinical manifestations. We evaluated 44 patients with clinical manifestations of CHIKF and serological confirmation with IgM and/or IgG chikungunya virus (CHIKV) antibodies. Forty-nine age- and gender-matched healthy individuals served as controls. Anti−CHIKV IgM and IgG antibodies and galectins serum levels were measured by ELISA. We found higher levels of GAL-9 (patients median 2192 [1500–2631] pg/mL, controls median 46.88 [46.88−46.88] pg/mL, p