Analysis of the Expression of mTOR in Tissues of Females of Species Mesocricetus auratus Infected by Zika Virus

Abstract

Luan Filipe de Souza Pereira45530*, Edivaldo Herculano Correa de Oliveira45531, Karla Fabiane Lopes de Melo45532, Francisco Canindé Ferreira de Luna45533, Edna Cristina Santos Franco45534, Pedro Fernando da Costa Vasconcelos45535 and Samir Mansour Moraes Casseb45536

Arboviruses are recognized by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a major public health problem, due to their growing territorial spread and the great need for preventive and control actions, which are increasingly complex. Among the arboviruses that present the greatest circulation is the Zika virus (ZIKV). Thus, this work aims to evaluate the expression of mammalian Target of Rapamycin (mTOR) in tissues of females of the species Mesocricetus auratus infected with the Zika virus. The samples used in this study come from a larger project entitled “Experimental Zika virus infection in golden hamsters (Mesocricetus auratus)” from the sexually transmitted group, previously approved by the Ethics Committee on Animal Use (CEUA) of Evandro Chagas Institute with registration number 24/2016. The samples are a total of 63 samples, divided between ZIKV-infected and non-infected animals. This study showed how Zika virus may be related to mTOR 1 and mTOR 2 expressions. The comparative results to viral load emphasize the correlation between the virus and mTOR. Such correlation is of importance to ZIKV, for protein regulation pathways and virus interference on those pathways may turn out to be a factor related to its pathogenic mechanism.