Alteration of the blood-brain barrier (BBB) is a hallmark of tick-borne encephalitis (TBE), a life-threating human viral neuroinfection. However, the mechanism of BBB breakdown during TBE, as well as TBE virus (TBEV) entry into the brain is unclear. Here, primary human microvascular endothelial cells (HBMECs) were infected with TBEV to study interactions with the BBB. Although the number of infected cells was relatively low in culture (<5%), the infection was persistent with high TBEV yields (>106pfu/ml). Infection did not induce any significant changes in the expression of key tight junction proteins or upregulate the expression of cell adhesion molecules, and did not alter the highly organized intercellular junctions between HBMECs. In an in vitro BBB model, the virus crossed the BBB via a transcellular pathway without compromising the integrity of the cell monolayer. The results indicate that HBMECs may support TBEV entry into the brain without altering BBB integrity.

Department of Virology Veterinary Research Institute Hudcova 70 CZ 62100 Brno Czechia

Institute of Parasitology Biology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences Branišovská 31 CZ 37005 České Budějovice Czechia

Institute of Parasitology Biology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences Branišovská 31 CZ 37005 České Budějovice Czechia; Department of Virology Veterinary Research Institute Hudcova 70 CZ 62100 Brno Czechia

Institute of Parasitology Biology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences Branišovská 31 CZ 37005 České Budějovice Czechia; Faculty of Science University of South Bohemia Branišovská 31 CZ 37005 České Budějovice Czechia

Institute of Parasitology Biology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences Branišovská 31 CZ 37005 České Budějovice Czechia; Faculty of Science University of South Bohemia Branišovská 31 CZ 37005 České Budějovice Czechia; Department of Virology Veterinary Research Institute Hudcova 70 CZ 62100 Brno Czechia

References provided by Crossref.org

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