scholarly journals The growth of a virulent strain of African swine fever virus in domestic pigs

1968 ◽  
Vol 66 (1) ◽  
pp. 117-134 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. Plowright ◽  
J. Parker ◽  
R. F. Staple

SUMMARYPigs were infected by the intranasal instillation of a large dose (ca. 107·0 ID 50) of a highly virulent strain of African swine fever virus (ASFV) and the progress of the infection was studied by the ‘routine titration approach’ (Mims, 1964) using pig bone marrow cultures.Virus growth was established within 16–24 hr. in the retropharyngeal but not in the alimentary or nasal mucosae or the tonsils. By 24–40 hr. the virus was consistently present in the retropharyngeal lymph nodes, almost invariably the medials; titres in these nodes exceeded those in the associated mucosa by 48–72 hr. Generalization, presumed to have occurred via the tracheal lymph ducts and the blood stream, was generally demonstrable after 72 hr., i.e. by the time of the onset of pyrexia or 24 hr. prior to this.On average 11% of the total infectivity in the blood was present in the plasma, with the rest assumed to be cell-associated. A mean of about 45% of the total infectivity was recovered in erythrocyte fractions in which the concentration of leucocytes had been materially reduced; fractions with increased leucocyte counts contained relatively little virus and it was concluded that the great majority of circulating virus was closely associated with the erythrocytes. Adsorption of ASFV to normal pig erythrocytes was demonstrated in vitro.The greatest concentrations of virus were recorded in the lymph nodes, especially those of the cephalic region, and in the spleen, where titres commonly attained 108·0 to 109·0 HAD 50/g. and exceeded those in the blood. They were, therefore, thought to be the source of much circulating virus, although there was some evidence that the liver, lungs and bone marrow may also have contributed, at least in some animals. There was no evidence that the mucosae of the alimentary and respiratory tracts or the kidney, myocardium and brain were a source of significant amounts of virus. The virus demonstrable in Peyer's patches did not exceed that in the intervening ileal mucosa.Although contact transmission of ASF does not normally occur during the first 12–24 hr. of fever, considerable amounts of virus were usually present in the nasal and intestinal mucosae at 72 hr. It was probable that this infectivity was due to the blood content and that excretion did not occur until the epithelium was breached.Three pigs, all of which had lesions of a portal cirrhosis, showed a delayed or restricted generalization of virus, in comparison with the other twenty-eight animals which behaved according to a regular pattern.We are grateful to Mrs M. O'Sullivan and Mrs E. Douglas for painstaking technical assistance and to Mr C. S. Rampton, A.I.M.L.T., for the preparation of the figures.

2021 ◽  
pp. 105081
Author(s):  
Zhao Huang ◽  
Lang Gong ◽  
Zezhong Zheng ◽  
Qi Gao ◽  
Xiongnan Chen ◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vlad Petrovan ◽  
Anusyah Rathakrishnan ◽  
Muneeb Islam ◽  
Lynnette Goatley ◽  
Katy Moffat ◽  
...  

The limited knowledge on the role of many of the approximately 170 proteins encoded by African swine fever virus restricts progress towards vaccine development. In this study we investigated the effect of deleting combinations of different genes from a previously attenuated virus, BeninΔDP148R on: virus replication in macrophages, virus persistence and clinical signs post immunization, and induction of protection against challenge. Deletion of either EP402R or EP153R genes individually or in combination from BeninΔDP148R did not reduce virus replication in vitro. However, deletion of EP402R dramatically reduced viral persistence in vivo, whilst maintaining high levels of protection against challenge. The additional deletion of EP153R (BeninΔDP148RΔEP153RΔEP402R) further attenuated the virus and no viremia or clinical signs were observed post immunization. This was associated with decreased protection and detection of moderate levels of challenge virus in blood. Interestingly, the deletion of EP153R alone from BeninΔDP148R did not result in further virus attenuation and a slight increase in virus genome copies in blood was observed at different times post immunization when compared with BeninΔDP148R. These results show that EP402R and EP153R have a synergistic role in promoting viremia, however EP153R alone does not seem to have a major impact on virus levels in blood.


1998 ◽  
Vol 72 (4) ◽  
pp. 2881-2889 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. V. Borca ◽  
C. Carrillo ◽  
L. Zsak ◽  
W. W. Laegreid ◽  
G. F. Kutish ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT An African swine fever virus (ASFV) gene with similarity to the T-lymphocyte surface antigen CD2 has been found in the pathogenic African isolate Malawi Lil-20/1 (open reading frame [ORF] 8-DR) and a cell culture-adapted European virus, BA71V (ORF EP402R) and has been shown to be responsible for the hemadsorption phenomenon observed for ASFV-infected cells. The structural and functional similarities of the ASFV gene product to CD2, a cellular protein involved in cell-cell adhesion and T-cell-mediated immune responses, suggested a possible role for this gene in tissue tropism and/or immune evasion in the swine host. In this study, we constructed an ASFV 8-DR gene deletion mutant (Δ8-DR) and its revertant (8-DR.R) from the Malawi Lil-20/1 isolate to examine gene function in vivo. In vitro, Δ8-DR, 8-DR.R, and the parental virus exhibited indistinguishable growth characteristics on primary porcine macrophage cell cultures. In vivo,8-DR had no obvious effect on viral virulence in domestic pigs; disease onset, disease course, and mortality were similar for the mutant Δ8-DR, its revertant 8-DR.R, and the parental virus. Altered viral infection was, however, observed for pigs infected with Δ8-DR. A delay in spread to and/or replication of Δ8-DR in the draining lymph node, a delay in generalization of infection, and a 100- to 1,000-fold reduction in virus titers in lymphoid tissue and bone marrow were observed. Onset of viremia for Δ8-DR-infected animals was significantly delayed (by 2 to 5 days), and mean viremia titers were reduced approximately 10,000-fold at 5 days postinfection and 30- to 100-fold at later times; moreover, unlike in 8-DR.R-infected animals, the viremia was no longer predominantly erythrocyte associated but rather was equally distributed among erythrocyte, leukocyte, and plasma fractions. Mitogen-dependent lymphocyte proliferation of swine peripheral blood mononuclear cells in vitro was reduced by 90 to 95% following infection with 8-DR.R but remained unaltered following infection with Δ8-DR, suggesting that 8-DR has immunosuppressive activity in vitro. Together, these results suggest an immunosuppressive role for 8-DR in the swine host which facilitates early events in viral infection. This may be of most significance for ASFV infection of its highly adapted natural host, the warthog.


2001 ◽  
Vol 75 (21) ◽  
pp. 10372-10382 ◽  
Author(s):  
Isabelle Vallée ◽  
Stephen W. G. Tait ◽  
Penelope P. Powell

ABSTRACT African swine fever (ASF) is an asymptomatic infection of warthogs and bushpigs, which has become an emergent disease of domestic pigs, characterized by hemorrhage, lymphopenia, and disseminated intravascular coagulation. It is caused by a large icosohedral double-stranded DNA virus, African swine fever virus (ASFV), with infection of macrophages well characterized in vitro and in vivo. This study shows that virulent isolates of ASFV also infect primary cultures of porcine aortic endothelial cells and bushpig endothelial cells (BPECs) in vitro. Kinetics of early and late gene expression, viral factory formation, replication, and secretion were similar in endothelial cells and macrophages. However, ASFV-infected endothelial cells died by apoptosis, detected morphologically by terminal deoxynucleotidyltransferase-mediated dUTP nick end labeling and nuclear condensation and biochemically by poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) cleavage at 4 h postinfection (hpi). Immediate-early proinflammatory responses were inhibited, characterized by a lack of E-selectin surface expression and interleukin 6 (IL-6) and IL-8 mRNA synthesis. Moreover, ASFV actively downregulated interferon-induced major histocompatibility complex class I surface expression, a strategy by which viruses evade the immune system. Significantly, Western blot analysis showed that the 65-kDa subunit of the transcription factor NF-κB, a central regulator of the early response to viral infection, decreased by 8 hpi and disappeared by 18 hpi. Both disappearance of NF-κB p65 and cleavage of PARP were reversed by the caspase inhibitor z-VAD-fmk. Interestingly, surface expression and mRNA transcription of tissue factor, an important initiator of the coagulation cascade, increased 4 h after ASFV infection. These data suggest a central role for vascular endothelial cells in the hemorrhagic pathogenesis of the disease. Since BPECs infected with ASFV also undergo apoptosis, resistance of the natural host must involve complex pathological factors other than viral tropism.


1999 ◽  
Vol 80 (10) ◽  
pp. 2693-2697 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. G. Neilan ◽  
M. V. Borca ◽  
Z. Lu ◽  
G. F. Kutish ◽  
S. B. Kleiboeker ◽  
...  

An African swine fever virus (ASFV) ORF, 8CR, with similarity to the C-type lectin family of adhesion proteins has been described in the pathogenic isolate Malawi Lil-20/1. The similarity of 8CR to cellular and poxvirus genes associated with cell adhesion, cell recognition and virus infectivity suggested that 8CR may be of significance to ASFV–host cell interactions. Sequence analysis of the 8CR ORF from additional pathogenic ASFV isolates demonstrated conservation among isolates from both pig and tick sources. Northern blot analysis demonstrated 8CR mRNA transcription late in the virus replication cycle. A Malawi Lil-20/1 8CR deletion mutant (Δ8CR) was constructed to analyse 8CR function further. The growth characteristics in vitro of Δ8CR in porcine macrophage cell cultures were identical to those observed for parental virus. In domestic swine, Δ8CR exhibited an unaltered parental Malawi Lil- 20/1 disease and virulence phenotype. Thus, although well conserved among pathogenic ASFV field isolates, 8CR is non-essential for growth in porcine macrophages in vitro and for virus virulence in domestic swine.


2019 ◽  
Vol 238 ◽  
pp. 108424 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tinka Jelsma ◽  
Joris J. Wijnker ◽  
Bregtje Smid ◽  
Eline Verheij ◽  
Wim H.M. van der Poel ◽  
...  

2001 ◽  
Vol 75 (15) ◽  
pp. 6758-6768 ◽  
Author(s):  
Germán Andrés ◽  
Ramón Garcı́a-Escudero ◽  
Eladio Viñuela ◽  
Marı́a L. Salas ◽  
Javier M. Rodrı́guez

ABSTRACT This report examines the role of African swine fever virus (ASFV) structural protein pE120R in virus replication. Immunoelectron microscopy revealed that protein pE120R localizes at the surface of the intracellular virions. Consistent with this, coimmunoprecipitation assays showed that protein pE120R binds to the major capsid protein p72. Moreover, it was found that, in cells infected with an ASFV recombinant that inducibly expresses protein p72, the incorporation of pE120R into the virus particle is dependent on p72 expression. Protein pE120R was also studied using an ASFV recombinant in which E120R gene expression is regulated by the Escherichia coli lacrepressor-operator system. In the absence of inducer, pE120R expression was reduced about 100-fold compared to that obtained with the parental virus or the recombinant virus grown under permissive conditions. One-step virus growth curves showed that, under conditions that repress pE120R expression, the titer of intracellular progeny was similar to the total virus yield obtained under permissive conditions, whereas the extracellular virus yield was about 100-fold lower than in control infections. Immunofluorescence and electron microscopy demonstrated that, under restrictive conditions, intracellular mature virions are properly assembled but remain confined to the replication areas. Altogether, these results indicate that pE120R is necessary for virus dissemination but not for virus infectivity. The data also suggest that protein pE120R might be involved in the microtubule-mediated transport of ASFV particles from the viral factories to the plasma membrane.


Virology ◽  
1981 ◽  
Vol 113 (2) ◽  
pp. 484-491 ◽  
Author(s):  
María L. Salas ◽  
Juan Kuznar ◽  
Eladio Viñuela

2019 ◽  
pp. 23-28 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. S. Pershin ◽  
I. V. Shevchenko ◽  
A. S. Igolkin ◽  
Ye. V. Aronova ◽  
N. N. Vlasova

A characteristic feature of African swine fever virus (ASFV) is the ability to escape from host immune response, affecting macrophages and replicating in them. Besides, ASFV - specific antibodies do not completely neutralize the virus. Cytokines are important factors for various viral infection pathologies. The virulence of ASFV isolates may depend on the capacity to regulate cytokine expression by macrophages. Thus, when comparing in vitro and in vivo cytokine production by macrophages, it was established that infection with low virulent virus isolates leads to an immune response with a predominance of cytokines involved in cellular immunity, such as INF-α and IL-12p40, as compared with infection with highly virulent isolates. The aim of this paper was to study the effect of African swine fever virus on the production of IL-10, a pleiotropic cytokine that inhibits synthesis of cytokines and shows a strong antiinflammatory effect. For this, 12 piglets were experimentally infected intramuscularly with a continuous cell culture-adapted ASFV isolate Vero25 at a dose of 10 HAdU per animal followed by control infection of surviving animals with the reference virus isolate Arm 07 at a dose of 1,000 HAdU per animal. Temperature measurements were taken and blood sampling to obtain serum was conducted during the experiment. IL-10 amount in blood sera was determined using Invitrogen test systems (Thermo Fisher, USA). A higher IL-10 level (15.8–173 pg/ml) was observed in blood sera of dead animals infected with a moderately virulent virus, as compared with surviving pigs (4–5 pg/ml). No correlation between the speed of appearance of specific antibodies and IL-10 serum levels has been established. No noticeable effect of the IL-10 serum level prior to infection on the survival rate of animals has been observed. Further studies are needed to establish a causal relationship, including study of the expression of various cytokines during infection with both low- and highly virulent virus isolates.


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