An update on mosquito cell expressed dengue virus receptor proteins

Dengue is the most important mosquito transmitted viral disease of humans worldwide. Despite intensive study over several decades, many of the fine details of the dengue virus (DENV) replication cycle remain unknown, although generally more is known about the phase of the replication cycle in mammalian cells as compared to the phase in mosquito cells. This results from a combination of less research emphasis on the mosquito stage, as well as fewer tools such as specific antibodies against mosquito proteins and insect informatics databases. The binding of a virus to a host cell is a first and critical stage in the infectious process and the mechanism and identity of cellular proteins involved in this process remains largely unknown. This short review aims to provide an update on our current understanding of the proteins expressed by mosquito cells that mediate DENV binding as a prerequisite to DENV entry and replication.