Comparative analysis of immune responses to Russian spring–summer encephalitis and Omsk hemorrhagic fever viruses in mouse models

Omsk hemorrhagic fever virus (OHFV) and Russian spring–summer encephalitis virus (RSSEV) are tick-borne flaviviruses that have close homology but different pathology and disease outcomes. Previously, we reported that C57BL/6 and BALB/c mice were excellent models to study the pathology and clinical signs of human RSSEV and OHFV infection. In the study described here, we found that RSSEV infection induced robust release of proinflammatory cytokines (IL-1α, IL-1β, IL-6 and TNF-α) and chemokines (MCP-1, MIP-1β, RANTES and KC) in the brain at 9 and 11dpi, together with moderate to low Th1 and Th2 cytokines. In contrast, OHFV infection stimulated an early and prominent induction of IL-1α, TNF-α, IL-12p70, MCP-1, MIP-1α and MIP-1β in the spleen of infected mice. Collectively our data suggest that a differential host response to infection may lead to the alternate disease outcomes seen following OHFV or RSSEV infection.