Chikungunya: Virus Replication Fuels Joint Pain

Summary:

The Medical University of Innsbruck reports on new research from Gisa Gerold’s lab at the Institute of Virology, published in Cell Reports. Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) can cause severe joint pain that lasts months or even years, and there are still no effective drugs for the disease once it has broken out. The team studied how the virus replicates in synovial fibroblasts, the connective-tissue cells of the joint lining. Of 19 tetraspanins tested, three (CD63, CD9 and CD151) proved important for viral replication and for the production of new virus particles, but not for entry into the cell, which depends mainly on the receptor MXRA8. These host factors could become targets for antiviral drugs that limit CHIKV replication in joint cells.

Original publication: Brown et al., Chikungunya virus uses the tetraspanins CD63, CD9, and CD151 to replicate in human synovial fibroblasts, Cell Reports 45(10), 2026. doi.org/10.1016/j.celrep.2026.118058