Morphogenesis of porcine rotavirus in porcine kidney cell cultures and intestinal epithelial cells.

The morphogenesis of porcine rotavirus was similar in vitro in porcine kidney (PK) cell cultures and in vivo in porcine epithelial cells as examined by electron microscopy. Infected cells contained cytoplasmic, non-membrane-bound viroplasm and accumulations of virus particles within cisternae of the rough endoplasmic reticulum (RER). Three types of virus particles were noted: double-shelled or complete particles which averaged 77 nm in diam.; single-shelled or naked particles which ranged from 50 to 55 nm in diam.; and electron-dense nucleoids, or cores, 31 to 38 nm in diam. Virus particles acquired outer shells by budding through either matrices of granular, electron-dense viroplasm or membranes of distended RER. Accumulation of numerous single-shelled particles was observed only in PK cell cultures containing a high percentage of infected cells. In these cells, virus release occurred through disruption of the plasma membrane. Tubules, similar in diameter to the single-shelled particles, were observed in the nuclei of a few infected PK cells.     

Establishment of rotavirus persistent infection in cell culture

Summary Inoculation of the rabbit kidney cell line (RK13) with simian rotavirus SA11 resulted in persistently infected (carrier) cultures. A small percentage of these cells produced infectious virus (>25 passages) and trypsin treatment enhanced virus production.     

Alkaline cultivation of bovine rotavirus in the continuous cell cultures

Alkaline versus neutral cultivation of bovine rotavirus strain 101 in the continuous cell cultures resulted in a significant acceleration of a reproduction cycle with a very significant cytopathic effect.     

Islet cell cultures obtained from bovine fetal pancreas

Research Institute of Transplantology and Artificial Organs, Ministry of Health, Moscow. (Presented by Academician V. I. Shumakov, Academy of Medical Sciences.) Translated from Byulleten' Éksperimental'noi Biologii i Meditsiny, Vol. 113, No. 4, pp. 404–406, April, 1992.     

Anti-idiotypic antibodies to bovine herpesvirus-1 inhibit virus infection in cell cultures

Summary A panel of murine monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) to bovine herpesvirus-1 (BHV-1) was prepared. Three of them were neutralizing MAbs and reacted against 130/75/50 kDa, 77 kDa, or 97 kDa glycoproteins (gp). A fourth non-neutralizing MAb recognized the 97 kDa gp. Competition radioimmunoassay demonstrated that each of the four MAbs reacted against a different virus epitope. Anti-idiotypic antibodies (anti-id) to the four MAbs were produced in rabbits and purified by sequential immunoaffinity chromatography. Each anti-id inhibited the binding of its respective MAb to BHV-1 in competitive ELISA and blocked BHV-1 neutralizing activity of the MAb. This inhibition suggested that the anti-ids were specific for the antigen binding site of the MAbs. Treatment of MDBK cells with anti-ids inhibited BHV-1 infection, which suggested that the anti-ids block a cellular component essential for virus infection. Absence of significant cross-reactivity among the anti-ids for heterologous MAbs indicated that they recognized unique determinants on the antigen binding site of the homologous MAb.     

Murine intestinal antibody response to heterologous rotavirus infection.

Rotavirus is the most important worldwide cause of severe gastroenteritis. Extensive efforts have been devoted to the design of a vaccine that will prevent disease, but development of a more effective vaccine strategy may require progress in the understanding of the mucosal immune response to replicating viral antigens. In this article, we report the characterization of the intestinal antibody response of a murine model to heterologous infection with the rhesus rotavirus vaccine strain. We have adapted the enzyme-linked immunospot assay to measure this response without the difficulties associated with measurement of antibodies in intestinal contents or the artifacts associated with culturing of lymphocytes. The predominant response in terms of antibody-secreting cells (ASC) is seen in the small intestine lamina propria, which can be measured within 4 days of infection, peaks 3 weeks after infection, and remains near that level for longer than 8 weeks. The magnitude of the immunoglobulin A (IgA) cell response is approximately 10 times greater than the intestinal IgG cell response, and IgM cells are rare. Virus-specific ASC constitute approximately 50% of all ASC in the gut at the peak of the virus-specific response. This response is considerably greater than responses to nonreplicating mucosal antigens measured by similar techniques. Enteral infection engenders minimal virus-specific ASC response in the spleen. Rhesus rotavirus-specific enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and neutralization assays of serum and intestinal contents did not correlate with virus-specific ASC response.     

Establishment of an indicator cell line to quantify bovine foamy virus infection

A cell line derived from baby hamster kidney (BHK-21) cells was transfected with the enhanced green fluorescent protein gene driven by the bovine foamy virus (BFV) long terminal repeat (LTR) to establish a BFV indicator cell line (BICL). Among 48 clones, one clone was chosen for its little constitutive enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) expression and high level of EGFP expression after activation by BFV infection. By detecting the EGFP expression of the BFV indicator cell line, the titers of BFV were quantified by the end point method. As a result, the titer determined by the EGFP based assay 5-6 days post infection (d.p.i.) was 100 fold higher than traditional assays measuring cytopathic effects 8-9 d.p.i.. Moreover, the EGFP based assay was also used to determine the titer of those cells infected by BFV without inducing cytopathic effects. Using this simple and rapid assay, we examined the in vitro host range of BFV. It was found that BFV can productively infect various cell lines derived from bovine, human, rat and monkey. ((c) 2008 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim).     

Establishment and characterization of a goat synovial membrane cell line susceptible to small ruminant lentivirus infection

Primary goat synovial membrane (GSM) cells are widely used to study small ruminant lentiviruses (SRLV), i.e. maedi visna virus (MVV) and caprine arthritis-encephalitis virus (CAEV), but their limited life-span of 15-20 passages in vitro is problematic. Here, we report that ectopic expression of the catalytic subunit of human telomerase (hTERT) was sufficient to immortalize primary GSM cells. Cultures of hTERT-transfected GSM cells have been passaged for 2 years without showing any phenotypic difference from the original primary GSM cells. The hTERT-transfected cells continued to grow beyond a population doubling number of 250, while no net telomere lengthening was observed for these cells. Moreover, the immortalized GSM cells were susceptible to infection by both CAEV and MVV and were able to propagate theses viruses. Such cell line provides a useful source of standard and robust cells for both research and veterinary purposes.     

Isolation of murine rotavirus in cell cultures

Summary Murine rotavirus was isolated in primary monkey kidney cells. Electrophoretic pattern of genome RNA of murine rotavirus was different from that of human rotaviruses. Oral administration of cultured murine rotavirus caused mild diarrhea in newborn BALB/C mice.With 2 Figures     

Isolation of human rotavirus in cell cultures

Summary Three cytopathic rotavirus strains were isolated in MA104 cells from faecal specimens of pediatric patients with acute gastroenteritis. Pre-treatment of virus with trypsin and incorporation of a small amount of trypsin in maintenance medium were important for establishment of the strains in these cells. The isolates were antigenically closely related with strain Wa of human rotavirus and had some antigenic relationship with strain Lincoln of bovine rotavirus.With 1 Figure     

Isolation of Lapine rotavirus in cell cultures

Summary Two cytopathic rotavirus strains were isolated in MA 104 cells from diarrheal rabbits. The isolates showed marked cross reactions with strain Lincoln of bovine rotavirus in immunofluorescence, but no cross reaction in neutralization.With 1 Figure     

Isolation of ovine rotavirus in cell cultures

Summary Three cytopathic rotavirus strains were isolated in MA104 cells from intestinal contents of lambs with diarrhea. Pretreatment of virus with pancreatin and incorporation of a small amount of pancreatin in maintenance medium were important for establishment of the strains in these cells. The isolates showed marked cross reactions with bovine rotavirus in immunofluorescence, but no cross reaction with bovine, human, simian, equine, porcine and lapine rotaviruses in neutralization.     

Development of serum and intestinal antibody response to rotavirus after naturally acquired rotavirus infection in man

The temporal characteristics of the response of rotavirus specific IgM, IgG, IgA in serum and secretory antibody in feces to rotavirus were studied in 77 hospitalized patients with rotavirus induced gastroenteritis. The response in serum was characterized by the sequential appearance of rotavirus specific IgM, IgG, and IgA antibody. The IgM antibody appeared to be higher in the acute phase of the disease and was subsequently replaced by the IgG and IgA antibodies. However, the titers of IgG rotavirus antibody in convalescent specimens of serum were found to be statistically significantly lower in patients with severe or prolonged rotavirus infection than in specimens from subjects with mild or moderate disease. Most fecal specimens collected during both the acute and convalescent phase of illness contained virus specific secretory IgA. Higher concentrations of antibody were measured in convalescent samples from patients with prolonged diarrhea and virus shedding. These observations suggest a possible relationship between the severity of rotavirus infection and the nature of systemic and secretory antibody response.     

Multiple virus infection alters rotavirus replication and expression of cytokines and Toll-like receptors in intestinal epithelial cells

Two live oral rotavirus vaccines have shown to be effective in protecting young children from severe illness in developed and middle income countries, but their efficacy is significantly lower in low income countries. One of the reasons for this lower efficacy may be mixed virus infection in the gut that is commonly encountered among infants in the developing world. We investigated whether multiple virus infection interferes with rotavirus replication and alters host response by comparing single and mixed enteric virus infections in Caco-2 cells. We observed a dramatic reduction in rotavirus replication and growth in mixed rotavirus, astrovirus and enterovirus infection compared to single rotavirus infection. By contrast, the levels of astrovirus and enterovirus RNA in mixed infection remained unchanged when compared to those of the corresponding single virus infection. We then examined cells with single or multiple virus infections for the expression of 10 cytokine genes and demonstrated elevated expressions for 7 (IFN-α, IFN-β, IFN-γ, TNF-α, IL-6, IL-8, and IL-17) in dual rotavirus and enterovirus or triple rotavirus, enterovirus and astrovirus-infected cells but only 3 (IFN-β, TNF-α, and IL-8) in dual rotavirus and astrovirus-infected cells. We further observed elevated levels of TLR4, TLR5, TLR7 and TLR9 mRNAs in cells with rotavirus and enterovirus or rotavirus, enterovirus and astrovirus infections when compared to single rotavirus infections. Our data suggest that rotavirus infection is susceptible to interference by other enteric viruses in the gut, which could result in reduced virus replication and contribute to lower immunogenicity and efficacy of oral rotavirus vaccines in low income countries.     

Human intestinal epithelial cells are susceptible to influenza virus subtype H9N2

Avian influenza viruses (AIV) replicate efficiently in guts of birds, and virus shedding is critical to viral transmission among birds and from birds to other species. In this study, we showed that an H9N2 viral strain, isolated from a human patient, caused typical influenza-like signs and illness including loss of body weight in Balb/c mice, and that viral RNA could be detected in intestinal tissues. We demonstrated that human intestinal epithelial cell line HT-29 was susceptible to the virus, and the infected cells went apoptotic at the early stage post infection. Compared to a pandemic (H1N1) 2009 influenza isolate, we found that the human H9N2 virus induced more severe apoptotic and stronger innate immune responses. Both extrinsic and intrinsic apoptotic pathways were activated in human intestinal epithelial cells, and the levels of FasL and TNF-α were induced up to hundreds-fold in response to the H9N2 infection. Interestingly, Bcl-2 family member Bid was cleaved during the course of infection, and the truncated Bid (tBid) appeared to play a role in the initiation of the intrinsic apoptosis with increased release of cytochrome c in cytosol. As for pro-inflammatory responses in H9N2-infected intestinal epithelial cells, RANTES and IP10 were induced significantly and may have played a major role in intestinal pathogenicity. Moreover, TLR-8, MyD88, and MDA-5 were all up-regulated in the infection, critical in the induction of IFN-β and host innate immunity against the H9N2 virus. Our findings have demonstrated a unique pattern of host responses in human gut in response to H9N2 subtype influenza viruses, which will broaden our understanding of the pathogenesis of AIV infection in both humans and animals.     

Susceptibility of bovine rotavirus to interferon

Summary Using the plaque assay or the CPE test (cytopathogenic effect), we investigated the action of human, simian (rhesus), bovine and murine interferons on bovinerotavirus adapted to grow on established Rhesus monkey kidney cell line (MA 104) or Georgia Bovine Kidney cell line (GBK). Except for the murine interferon we used, which had no antiviral effect at all, the different interferons tested were clearly active.     

A technique to obviate the risk of inadvertent infection of cell cultures with bovine viral diarrhoea virus

When bovine embryonic kidneys collected at the Gorgie Abattoir, Edinburgh were examined for evidence of infection with bovine viral diarrhoea virus (BVDV), 11 out of 26 kidneys were found to be positive. A technique that detected the presence of inadvertent BVDV in cell cultures consisted of processing and digesting the kidneys to produce cell suspensions, adding dimethyl sulphoxide and dispersing the suspensions in small aliquots that were stored frozen at - 114 degrees C. One aliquot was cultured and screened for BVDV by indirect immuno-fluorescence and interference tests. Bovine embryonic kidney cells so processed retained their viability and virus susceptibility for 15 to 18 months. Selected stocks of "clean" cells only are then used for vaccine production or diagnostic purposes. The cytopathic NADL strain of BVDV multiplied in naturally infected cell cultures but the titres attained were significantly lower than in "clean" cell cultures.