Figure 6.

Schematic diagram showing features involved in enhanced dengue virus (DENV) infection in mast cell-deficient mice compared to wild-type (WT) mice both ex vivo and in vivo. Mast cell-deficient Kit^W-sh/W-sh mice are more susceptible to intradermal DENV infection than WT mice as indicated by a more prolonged bleeding time in Kit^W-sh/W-sh mice. The ex vivo experiments indicate that peritoneal macrophages isolated from Kit^W-sh/W-sh mice show higher DENV infection and higher levels of CCL2 (MCP-1) after DENV infection compared with WT mice. In addition, DENV infection induces significantly increased CCL2 (MCP-1) production and macrophage infiltration in Kit^W-sh/W-sh mice than in WT mice.