A group from National Health Research Institutes, Miaoli, Taiwan, etc. has established a transgenic Aedes aegypti line that expresses human CLEC18A, and has confirmed suppression of dengue virus (DENV) infection and proliferation in Aedes aegypti.
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fimmu.2021.640367/full
A human C-type lectin protein CLEC18A binds to glycoprotein of dengue virus, induces type-I interferon secretion, making CLEC18A one of players in innate immune responses to DENV infection (detailed glycan binding specificity of CLEC18A is not clear, but usually C-type lectins bind to high mannose or Gal/GalNAc). This study suggests a possibility that could suppress the spread of DENV infection and proliferation by using transgenic mosquitoes.
