von Messling, Veronika Alice Irmela

Research Interests:

Respiratory Viruses, Pathogenesis, Host-Response

Respiratory virus infections, especially measles and influenza, contribute importantly to worldwide mortality and cause considerable economic damage. However, the mechanisms involved in their pathogenesis and the virus-host interactions underlying the virulence seen for a respective strain remain poorly understood, limiting the development of new treatment approaches and more efficient vaccines. Our research program aims at characterizing the pathogenesis of measles and influenza using the ferret model. Ferrets are natural hosts for influenza and canine distemper virus (CDV), a close relative of measles. Upon intranasal infection, ferrets develop a disease that closely reproduces the clinical signs and host response seen in humans. At this time, we are interested in answering the following questions:

• What characterizes a broad protective immune response against influenza?
• How does the virus interact with the innate immune response?
• How do Morbilliviruses interfere with the host response?
• Why do morbillivirus vaccines induce life-long immunity?

Selected Publications:

Kobinger GP, Meunier I, Patel A, Pillet S, Gren J, Stebner S, Leung A, Neufeld JL, Kobasa D, and von Messling V. (2010) Efficacy assessment of commercially available and candidate vaccines against a pandemic H1N1 2009 virus. J. Inf, Dis., 201; 1000-6.

Rudd PA, Bastien-Hamel LE, and von Messling V. (2010) Canine distemper virus induces local immune activation and rapid neuronal loss during the acute disease phase. J. Gen. Virol., 91; 980-9.

Sawatsky B and von Messling V. (2010) Canine distemper viruses expressing a hemagglutinin without N-Glycans lose virulence but retain immunosuppression. J. Virol., 84; 2753-61.

Rouxel R, Svitek N, and von Messling V. (2009) A chimeric virus with canine distemper envelope protects ferrets against lethal distemper challenge. Vaccine 27; 4961-6.

Pillet S and von Messling V. (2009) Canine distemper virus selectively inhibits apoptosis progression in infected immune cells. J. Virol. 83, 6279-87.

Kugel D, Kochs G, Obojes K, Roth J, Kobinger GP, Kobasa D, Haller O, Staeheli P, von Messling V. (2009) Intranasal administration of interferon-alpha reduces seasonal influenza A virus morbidity in ferrets. J. Virol. 83, 3843-51.

Anderson D and von Messling V. (2008) The region between the canine distemper virus M and F genes modulates virulence by controlling fusion protein expression. J. Virol. 82, 10510-8.

Svitek N, Rudd PA, Obojes K, Pillet S, and von Messling V. (2008) Severe seasonal influenza correlates with reduced interferon and increased IL-6 induction. Virol. 376, 53-9.

Bonami F, Rudd PA, and von Messling V. (2007) Disease duration determines canine distemper virus neurovirulence. J. Virol. 81, 12066-70.

Rudd PA, Cattaneo R, and von Messling V. (2006) Canine distemper virus uses both the anterograde and the hematogenous pathway for neuroinvasion. J. Virol. 80, 9361-70.