News Releases & Research Results Discovery of the key to pathogenetic mechanism underlying “Severe Fever with Thrombocytopenia Syndrome (SFTS)”, a tick-borne viral infectious disease: Identification of viral infection target cells

The results of collaborative research conducted by Tadaki Suzuki, Hideki Hasegawa, Shigeru Morikawa, and Masayuki Saijo from the National Institute of Infectious Diseases, and others.

• In patients with severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS), a tick-borne viral infectious disease, the target cells of viral infection was found to be B cells differentiating into antibody-producing cells.
• In this research project, a new experimental system was developed to reproduce viral infection in vitro; this will facilitate the development of new treatments for SFTS, including antiviral drugs.

This project was conducted with the support of Japanese Initiative for Progress of Research on Infectious Disease for global Epidemic (J-PRIDE) and Research Program on Emerging and Re-emerging Infectious Diseases by AMED.

The research results were published online in The Journal of Clinical Investigation on January 7.

Suzuki T., et al. Severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome virus targets B cells in lethal human infections The Journal of Clinical Investigation
DOI：doi.org/10.1172/JCI129171