Expression of toll-like receptors and co-stimulatory molecules in lymphoid tissue during experimental infection of beef calves with bovine viral diarrhea virus of low and high virulence

Immune evasion strategies of bovine viral diarrhea virus

Bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV) is a significant pathogen that causes great economic losses in the global livestock industry. During the long-term interactions between BVDV and its hosts, the virus has evolved multiple strategies to evade the host's innate immunity and adaptive immunity, thereby promoting viral survival and replication. This review focuses on the most recent research on immune evasion strategies employed by BVDV, including evading type I IFN signaling pathway, evading host adaptive immunity, mediating NF-κB signaling pathway, mediating cell apoptosis and inducing autophagy. Unraveling BVDV's immune evasion strategies will enhance our understanding of the pathogenesis of BVDV and contribute to the development of more effective therapies for the prevention, control and eradication of BVDV.

In Vivo and In Vitro Antiviral Activity of Phlorizin Against Bovine Viral Diarrhea Virus

Bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV) is one of the most serious pathogens affecting the cattle industry worldwide. Phlorizin, a kind of flavonoids extracted from apple tree roots, leaves, and fruits, has a variety of biological functions and has been widely used as a herbal supplement and food additive. Here, BALB/c mouse and Madin-Darby bovine kidney (MDBK) cells were used to explore the effect and mechanism of phlorizin against BVDV infection. The results showed that phlorizin significantly inhibited CP BVDV replication and improved the histopathological changes of duodenum and spleen in mice. In vitro studies also confirmed the activity of phlorizin against CP BVDV. Exploration on its potential mechanism suggested that phlorizin inhibited CP BVDV-induced beclin-1 level and the conversion rate of LC3B-I to LC3B-II. Interestingly, although phlorizin also showed a protective effect on MDBK cells, which were treated with 3-methyladenine A (3-MA), the effect was significantly weakened. Furthermore, phlorizin suppressed the stage of BVDV replication but showed no effect on stages of attachment and internalization. Our data further indicated that phlorizin promoted IFN-α and IFN-β levels, decreased IL-1β and IL-6 expression, and regulated RIG-I, MDA5, TLR3, and NLRP3 levels. Similar to CP BVDV results, in vivo and in vitro, phlorizin inhibited NCP BVDV (NY-1 and YNJG2020 strains) infection. These results were the first to be discovered that phlorizin might be used as a new dietary strategy for controlling BVDV infection.

Integrated Network Analysis to Identify Key Modules and Potential Hub Genes Involved in Bovine Respiratory Disease: A Systems Biology Approach

Background: Bovine respiratory disease (BRD) is the most common disease in the beef and dairy cattle industry. BRD is a multifactorial disease resulting from the interaction between environmental stressors and infectious agents. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying BRD are not fully understood yet. Therefore, this study aimed to use a systems biology approach to systematically evaluate this disorder to better understand the molecular mechanisms responsible for BRD. Methods: Previously published RNA-seq data from whole blood of 18 healthy and 25 BRD samples were downloaded from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) and then analyzed. Next, two distinct methods of weighted gene coexpression network analysis (WGCNA), i.e., module-trait relationships (MTRs) and module preservation (MP) analysis were used to identify significant highly correlated modules with clinical traits of BRD and non-preserved modules between healthy and BRD samples, respectively. After identifying respective modules by the two mentioned methods of WGCNA, functional enrichment analysis was performed to extract the modules that are biologically related to BRD. Gene coexpression networks based on the hub genes from the candidate modules were then integrated with protein-protein interaction (PPI) networks to identify hub-hub genes and potential transcription factors (TFs). Results: Four significant highly correlated modules with clinical traits of BRD as well as 29 non-preserved modules were identified by MTRs and MP methods, respectively. Among them, two significant highly correlated modules (identified by MTRs) and six nonpreserved modules (identified by MP) were biologically associated with immune response, pulmonary inflammation, and pathogenesis of BRD. After aggregation of gene coexpression networks based on the hub genes with PPI networks, a total of 307 hub-hub genes were identified in the eight candidate modules. Interestingly, most of these hub-hub genes were reported to play an important role in the immune response and BRD pathogenesis. Among the eight candidate modules, the turquoise (identified by MTRs) and purple (identified by MP) modules were highly biologically enriched in BRD. Moreover, STAT1, STAT2, STAT3, IRF7, and IRF9 TFs were suggested to play an important role in the immune system during BRD by regulating the coexpressed genes of these modules. Additionally, a gene set containing several hub-hub genes was identified in the eight candidate modules, such as TLR2, TLR4, IL10, SOCS3, GZMB, ANXA1, ANXA5, PTEN, SGK1, IFI6, ISG15, MX1, MX2, OAS2, IFIH1, DDX58, DHX58, RSAD2, IFI44, IFI44L, EIF2AK2, ISG20, IFIT5, IFITM3, OAS1Y, HERC5, and PRF1, which are potentially critical during infection with agents of bovine respiratory disease complex (BRDC). Conclusion: This study not only helps us to better understand the molecular mechanisms responsible for BRD but also suggested eight candidate modules along with several promising hub-hub genes as diagnosis biomarkers and therapeutic targets for BRD.

Differences in pathogenicity and virulence-associated gene expression among Pasteurella multocida strains with high and low virulence in a lung tissue model

Pasteurella multocida capsular type A can cause a pulmonary infection, leading to serious pecuniary losses in cattle. The heterogeneity of infection outcome of P. multocida strains showing different virulence may be related to divergent expression of virulence genes. In this study, we compared the transcriptional response of virulence-associated genes in high (PMPAN001) and low (PMPAN007) virulence P. multocida capsular type A strains in lung tissues and in vitro. These clinical isolates differ in their organ bacterial loads, mRNA abundance of the same virulence genes between lung and culture medium, and extent of lung damage. Among the eight virulence-associated genes (fimA, tbpA, exbD, fur, oma87, pmHAS, nanH, and tonB), seven genes showed higher expression in lung compared with in vitro at 16 h (P ≤ 0.05) in PMPAN001, but not in PMPAN007. FimA, exbD, fur, oma87, pmHAS, and tonB gene transcripts showed significantly higher expression in PMPAN001 than in PMPAN007 in the lung tissues at 16 h post-infection (P ≤ 0.05). Specially, the virulence gene, nanH, in both strains was associated with poor expression in vitro and lung tissue (mean relative mRNA abundance values < 0.6). Strain PMPAN001 had a higher proliferation rate in vivo than strain PMPAN007. The bacterial loads of PMPAN001 in the organs increased from 12 h post-infection, with maximum bacteria count ranging from 1 million to 20 million/mg. In addition, lungs treated with PMPAN001 produced serious and extensive lesions marked with inflammation at 20 h. Overall, our results reveal that the highly expressed virulence-associated genes, fimA, exbD, fur, oma87, pmHAS, and tonB can be used as markers for assessing the virulence of P. multocida capsular type A strains.

Forsythoside A Inhibits BVDV Replication via TRAF2-Dependent CD28-4-1BB Signaling in Bovine PBMCs

Bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV), the causative agent of bovine viral diarrhea/mucosal disease (BVD/MD), is an important pathogen of cattle and other wild animals throughout the world. BVDV infection typically leads to an impaired immune response in cattle. In the present study, we investigated the effect of Forsythoside A (FTA) on BVDV infection of bovine peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs). We found that Forsythoside A could not only promote proliferation of PBMCs and T cells activation but also inhibit the replication of BVDV as well as apoptosis induced by BVDV. FTA treatment could counteract the BVDV-induced overproduction of IFN-γ to maintain the immune homeostasis in bovine PBMCs. At same time, FTA can enhance the secretion of IL-2. What's more, BVDV promotes the expression of CD28, 4-1BB and TRAF-2, which can be modulated by FTA. Our data suggest that FTA protects PBMCs from BVDV infection possibly via TRAF2-dependent CD28-4-1BB signaling, which may activate PBMCs in response to BVDV infection. Therefore, this aids in the development of an effective adjuvant for vaccines against BVDV and other specific FTA-based therapies for preventing BVDV infection.