Preliminary studies of the major pathogen enterovirus 71 (EV71), a member of the Picornaviridae family, have suggested that EV71 may be a major cause of fatal hand, foot and mouth disease cases. Currently, the role of the pathological changes induced by EV71 infection in the immunopathogenic response remains unclear. Our study focused on the interaction between this virus and immunocytes and indicated that this virus has the ability to replicate in CD14(+) cells. Furthermore, these EV71-infected CD14(+) cells have the capacity to stimulate the proliferation of T cells and to enhance the release of certain functional cytokines. An adaptive immune response induced by the back-transfusion of EV71-infected CD14(+) cells was observed in donor neonatal rhesus monkeys. Based on these observations, the proposed hypothesis is that CD14(+) cells infected by the EV71 virus might modulate the anti-EV71 adaptive immune response by inducing simultaneous T-cell activation.
Keywords: CD14+ cells; Th1/Th2 response; cytokines; enterovirus 71; neonatal rhesus monkey.