Inhibitory effect of African swine fever virus on lectin-dependent swine lymphocyte proliferation

The incubation of swine peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) with African swine fever (ASF) virus preparations strongly inhibited the proliferative response of lymphocytes to PHA and other lectins. The inhibition, which persisted after inactivation of the virus by UV radiation, was dependent upon the dose and the time that virus preparations were present in cultures. When virus preparations were fractionated by ultracentrifugation, the inhibitory activity resulted to be soluble, whereas no activity was found in the sedimented viral fraction. However, the preincubation during 4 days of this sedimented fraction with swine PBMC, before the addition of the mitogen, restored the inhibitory activity. The results obtained suggest that the inhibition is mediated by one or more soluble factors released by swine PBMC after coincubation with ASF virus in a time dependent process. These factors show a molecular weight between 40 and 80 kDa by gel filtration chromatography. The inhibitory activity described in the present paper is an indication of inhibition of lymphocyte function produced by ASF virus which can help to understand how this virus escapes from the host immune system.