REVIEW article
Front. Immunol.
Sec. Cytokines and Soluble Mediators in Immunity
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2025.1650903
Leukocyte recruitment in flavivirus-induced encephalitis
Provisionally accepted- KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
Flaviviruses are capable of causing a myriad of diseases in humans, including viral encephalitis. This condition involves complex interactions between the virus, resident cells of the central nervous system and leukocytes recruited to the brain. We reviewed the mechanisms underlying leukocyte recruitment during flavivirus-induced encephalitis with a focus on the role of various chemoattractants and adhesion molecules. We discuss how these molecules orchestrate the migration of peripheral leukocytes into the brain parenchyma and how neurotropic flaviviruses induce this process. Moreover, we discuss evidence of leukocytes both controlling viral propagation and contributing to neuropathology, which poses a challenge for therapy development. This review summarizes our current understanding of the mechanisms behind leukocyte recruitment during encephalitis, addresses the gaps that remain in the field, and presents opportunities for therapeutic targeting unveiled by recent research on flaviviral encephalitis.
Keywords: Flavivirus, leukocyte, Encephalitis, chemoattractant, chemokine, adhesion molecule
Received: 20 Jun 2025; Accepted: 04 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Slowikowski, Willems and Marques. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Pedro Elias Marques, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.