Patterns of alveolar macrophage activation upon attenuated and virulent African swine fever viruses in vitro

The pattern of porcine alveolar macrophage (AM) activation upon classical stimuli of two strains of African swine fever (ASF) viruses, an attenuated ASFV-BA71V and virulent ASFV-Georgia2007 were investigated. In an in vitro experiment ASFV-Georgia2007-infected AM showed M1 polarization pattern different from the one induced by classical stimuli. Altered morphology, appearance of binuclear cells, decreased synthesis of IFN-alpha as well as IFN-epsilon was observed compared with attenuated ASFV-BA71V, and decreased synthesis of IFN-omega compared with intact cells. However, CD68 level did not significantly differ between alveolar macrophage populations infected by ASFV-Georgia2007 and control group, while both LPS/IFN-gamma stimulation and non-pathogenic ASFV-BA71V virus increased the level of CD68 soluble receptor.AM infection with ASFV-Georgia2007 resulted in remarkable DNA proliferation whereas LPS/IFN-gamma and ASFV-BA71V induced less expressed DNA proliferation in activated cells. The higher value of nitric oxide was obvious in the cells infected with ASFV-BA71V, compared to ASFV-Georgia2007 and LPS/IFN-gamma activated cells.In conclusion, pattern of activation of alveolar macrophages induced by ASFV-Georgia2007 virus differs from the one expressed in LPS/IFN-gamma- and ASFV-BA71V-activated cells. ASFV-BA71V and LPS/IFN-gamma share similar antiviral response of porcine AM. Therefore we assume that wild type virulent ASFV can partially down regulate antiviral response of AM and conclude that evolutionary decrease of virulence in ASFV is related to alterations of control of the host cell antiviral response.     

Virucidal efficacy of acidic electrolyzed water (AEW) against African swine fever virus and avian influenza virus

This study evaluated the virucidal efficacy of acidic electrolyzed water (AEW) against African swine fever virus (ASFV) and avian influenza virus (AIV), according to the Animal and Plant Quarantine Agency (APQA) guidelines for efficacy testing of veterinary disinfectants. AEW (pH 5.0–6.5) was prepared using a commercially available “Electrolyzed Water Generator” with a free chlorine concentration (FCC) of 5–140 ppm, and its efficiency in reducing the titer of ASFV and AIV was tested in a suspension under low- and high-level organic soiling. Under low-level organic soiling conditions, AEW with FCC ≥40 ppm was effective against ASFV; under high-level organic soiling conditions, AEW with FCC ≥80 ppm was effective against ASFV. Under low-level organic soiling conditions, AEW with FCC ≥60 ppm was effective against AIV; under high-level organic soiling conditions, AEW with FCC ≥100 ppm was effective against AIV. The virucidal effect of AEW seemed dependent on the FCC and the presence of organic soiling. Based on these data, we recommend the following minimum FCCs in AEW treatment for routine disinfection in veterinary field under low- and high-level organic soiling conditions: for ASFV, 50 ppm and 100 ppm; and for AIV, 75 ppm and 125 ppm, respectively. In conclusion, the virucidal effects of AEW against ASFV and AIV emphasize its potential utility as a disinfectant, and we suggest considering organic soiling conditions while using AEW for implementing effective control measures for field applications.     

三类常用消毒剂对非洲猪瘟病毒灭活效果的评价

为评价戊二醛类、酚类、含氯类常用消毒剂对非洲猪瘟病毒(ASFV)的灭活效果,参考OIE参考实验室相关操作流程,基于畜禽栏舍、运载工具、器具消毒目的,根据说明书标明的浓度范围选择低、中、高3个工作浓度,与ASFV分别在4℃和20℃条件下作用30 min,10倍连续稀释后接种猪肺泡巨噬细胞,同时加入猪红细胞,培养观察红细胞...     

Experimental infection of pigs with different doses of the African swine fever virus Armenia 07 strain by intramuscular injection and direct contact

We experimentally infected pigs with the African swine fever virus (ASFV) Armenia 07 strain (genotype II) to analyze the effect of different dose injections on clinical manifestations, virus-shedding patterns, histopathology, and transmission dynamics by direct contact. Each three pigs and four pigs were injected intramuscularly with 0.1 fifty percent hemadsorbing doses (HAD₅₀)/ml, 10¹ HAD₅₀/ml and 10⁶ HAD₅₀/ml of ASFV Armenia 07 strain, respectively. Each two of three pigs injected with 0.1 HAD₅₀/ml and 10¹ HAD₅₀/ml died by 10 days post inoculation. All pigs had a gross lesion of splenomegaly. Perigastric and renal lymph nodes were enlarged and resembled blood clots in nine of ten pigs. It was revealed that 0.1 HAD₅₀/ml of this ASFV was sufficient to infect healthy pigs by intramuscular injection and caused sub-acute lethal disease. For the transmission study, two 8-week-old pigs were injected intramuscularly with 10³ HAD₅₀/ml of the same virus. Each of the experimentally inoculated pigs was co-housed with two 8-week-old naive pigs. All contact pigs exhibited clinical manifestations at 6 or 7 days after the experimentally inoculated pigs developed pyrexia. These findings suggest that this strain may spread slowly within a herd. Histologically, lymph nodes resembled blood clots were formed by severe blood absorption and followed hemorrhage result of disruption of the lymphoid sinus filling with absorbed red blood cells. The severity of the gross and histological lesions depended on duration after infection, regardless of the difference of injection doses in this study.     

非洲猪瘟病毒传播方式及控制措施

非洲猪瘟(African swine fever,ASF)是由非洲猪瘟病毒(African swine fever virus,ASFV)引起的一种急性、热性、高度传染性疫病,感染猪以发热和全身性出血为主要特征,病程短、病死率高。非洲猪瘟主要流行于非洲国家,随后相继传入西欧、南美洲、东欧,以及亚洲国家,对全球养猪业、食品安全和猪及其产品国际贸易产生了严重危害和深远影响。现结合参考文献和我国非洲猪瘟发生、控制情况,分析了非洲猪瘟病毒传播动力学、传播方式,提出防控非洲猪瘟的主要措施。     

Correlation of cell surface marker expression with African swine fever virus infection

The expression of surface markers on African swine fever virus (ASFV) infected cells was evaluated to assess their involvement in infection. Previous findings indicated CD163 expression was correlated with ASFV susceptibility. However, in this study the expression of porcine CD163 on cell lines did not increase the infection rate of these cells indicating other factors are likely to be important in determining susceptibility to infection. On adherent porcine bone marrow (pBM) cells the expression of CD45 was strongly correlated with infection. CD163 and CD203a expression correlated at intermediate levels with infection, indicating cells expressing these markers could become infected but were not preferentially infected by the virus. Most of the cells expressing MHCII were infected, indicating that they may be preferentially infected although expression of MHCII was not essential for infection and a large percentage of the infected cells were MHCII negative. CD16 showed a marked decrease in expression following infection and significantly lower levels of infected cells were shown to express CD16. Altogether these results suggest CD163 may be involved in ASFV infection but it may not be essential; the results also highlight the importance of other cell markers which requiring further investigation.     

非洲猪瘟病毒p72蛋白杆状病毒表达系统的构建及其抗原性分析

为研究真核表达非洲猪瘟病毒(ASFV)主要结构蛋白p72,本研究从含ASFV p72基因全序列的重组质粒pGEX-6p-p72中扩增出1 941 bp的p72全长基因,将其插入于pFastBac HTa杆状病毒载体中,构建了重组质粒pFastBac HTa-p72,转化至感受态细胞DH10Bac中,获得重组杆粒rBacmid-p72。再将其转染至sf9昆虫细胞,获得重组杆状病毒。Western blot和夹心法ELISA分析表明ASFV p72基因在昆虫细胞sf9中获得了正确表达,重组p72蛋白可以被特异性抗ASFV血清、p72单克隆抗体识别,表明该蛋白特异性强、活性稳定,具有良好的抗原性。为进一步研究p72蛋白的结构、功能和免疫学特性奠定基础。     

非洲猪瘟病毒入胞过程相关蛋白及分子机制的研究进展

非洲猪瘟病毒(ASFV)是非洲猪瘟(ASF)的病原,可引发家猪和野猪急性、传染性出血死亡,目前尚无有效的疫苗和抗病毒药物。ASFV是囊膜病毒,其囊膜蛋白的结构和功能可能是影响病毒入侵和细胞嗜性的重要因素。病毒入胞是病毒感染细胞的第一步,通常是通过细胞表面特定的分子与病毒蛋白相结合吸附于宿主细胞表面,对ASFV入胞过程的病毒蛋白或宿主因子为靶点或可有效抑制ASFV的复制。本文从ASFV入胞过程中起重要作用的囊膜蛋白出发,对ASFV的入胞分子机制进行综述,为ASFV入胞深入研究以及治疗性药物和疫苗的研发提供参考。     

非洲猪瘟病毒微芯片荧光PCR快速检测技术的建立及初步应用

非洲猪瘟缺乏安全有效的疫苗,其防控有赖于及时、准确的诊断和消毒灭源.本研究在对非洲猪瘟病毒(Afri-can swine fever virus,ASFV)B646L基因序列进行分析的基础上设计引物、探针,建立了基于微芯片的ASFV免提取荧光PCR检测技术.特异性试验结果显示,微芯片PCR可用于我国不同地区ASFV毒株...     

非洲猪瘟病毒无标签重组B602L抗原制备与鉴定

为了获得无标签重组抗原用于非洲猪瘟病毒(ASFV)抗体检测,本研究将B602L与类弹性蛋白多肽(ELP)基因进行融合表达,利用简单、经济的相变循环(ITC)纯化ELP-B602L融合蛋白,用烟草蚀纹病毒(TEV)蛋白酶活性包涵体切除ELP标签,再用ITC回收重组B602L蛋白;用抗体阳性猪血清对重组B602L进行鉴定;以重组B602L蛋白为包被抗原进行ELISA鉴定。结果显示重组大肠杆菌能正确表达ELP-B602L融合蛋白,纯化融合蛋白纯度大于85%;TEV蛋白酶活性包涵体切除ELP标签的效率大于90%,回收的重组B602L蛋白纯度大于90%,能与抗体阳性猪血清反应;以重组B602L蛋白为包被抗原建立的ELISA与抗体阳性血清反应为阳性,与抗体阴性血清反应为阴性,OD450值与血清稀释倍数具有线性相关性。     

Identification of a conservative site in the African swine fever virus p54 protein and its preliminary application in a serological assay

BackgroundASF was first reported in Kenya in 1910 in 1921. In China, ASF spread to 31 provinces including Henan and Jiangsu within six months after it was first reported on August 3, 2018. The epidemic almost affected the whole China, causing direct economic losses of tens of billions of yuan. Cause great loss to our pig industry. As ELISA is cheap and easy to operate, OIE regards it as the preferred serological method for ASF detection. P54 protein has good antigenicity and is an ideal antigen for detection.ObjectiveTo identify a conservative site in the African swine fever virus (ASFV) p54 protein and perform a Cloth-enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for detecting the ASFV antibody in order to reduce risks posed by using the live virus in diagnostic assays.MethodWe used bioinformatics methods to predict the antigen epitope of the ASFV p54 protein in combination with the antigenic index and artificially synthesized the predicted antigen epitope peptides. Using ASFV-positive serum and specific monoclonal antibodies (mAbs), we performed indirect ELISA and blocking ELISA to verify the immunological properties of the predicted epitope polypeptide.ResultsThe results of our prediction revealed that the possible antigen epitope regions were A23–29, A36–45, A72–94, A114–120, A124–130, and A137–150. The indirect ELISA showed that the peptides A23–29, A36–45, A72–94, A114–120, and A137–150 have good antigenicity. Moreover, the A36–45 polypeptide can react specifically with the mAb secreted by hybridoma cells, and its binding site contains a minimum number of essential amino acids in the sequence 37DIQFINPY44.ConclusionsOur study confirmed a conservative antigenic site in the ASFV p54 protein and its amino acid sequence. A competitive ELISA method for detecting ASFV antibodies was established based on recombinant p54 and matching mAb. Moreover, testing the protein sequence alignment verified that the method can theoretically detect antibodies produced by pigs affected by nearly all ASFVs worldwide.     

Age-related viral load and severity of systemic pathological lesions in acute naturally occurring African swine fever virus genotype II infections

African swine fever (ASF) causes a contagious hemorrhagic disease in all ages of pigs without sex predilections. The objective of this study was to determine the age-related viral loads and severity of systemic pathological lesions among three different swine group ages (weaned pigs, fattening pigs, and sows) during a recent outbreak of acute ASF in Vietnam. Age-related viral loads were determined in 5 major organs (lung, liver, spleen, kidney, and lymph node) by immunohistochemistry as well as in the blood by real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Age-related systemic pathological lesions were analyzed in the listed organs among three age groups.Weaned pigs had significantly (p < 0.05) higher levels of viral loads in their lung, liver, lymph nodes and blood than in those of fattening pigs and sows. Fattening pigs had significantly (p < 0.05) higher scores of macroscopic lung and lymphoid lesions, and microscopic liver lesions compared with those of weaned pigs and sows. The results of this study demonstrated that viral loads were age-related in acute naturally occurring ASF but the severity of pathological lesions was not correlated with the level of viral loads in the five major organs.     

Porcine circovirus type 2 decreases the infection and replication of attenuated classical swine fever virus in porcine alveolar macrophages

Recently, it has been noted that porcine circovirus type 2 (PCV2) infection adversely affects the protective efficacy of Lapinized Philippines Coronel (LPC) vaccine, an attenuated strain of classical swine fever virus (CSFV), in pigs. In order to investigate the possible mechanisms of the PCV2-derived interference, an in vitro model was established to study the interaction of LPC virus (LPCV) and PCV2 in porcine alveolar macrophages (AMs). The results showed that PCV2 reduced the LPCV infection in AMs and the levels of PCV2-derived interference were dose-dependent. The PCV2-derived interference also reduced the replication level of LPCV in AMs. The full-length PCV2 DNA and its fragment DNA C9 CpG-ODN were involved in the reduction of LPCV infection in AMs, whereas UV-inactivated PCV2 was not. In addition, a moderate negative correlation between the LPCV antigen-containing rate and IFN-γ production was observed, and had a dose-dependent trend with the level of PCV2-inoculation. The results of the present study may partially explain how PCV2 infection interferes with the efficacy of LPC vaccine.     

Updated distribution and host records for the argasid tick Ornithodoros (Pavlovskyella) zumpti: A potential vector of African swine fever virus in South Africa

African swine fever virus (ASFV) causes a lethal and contagious disease of domestic pigs. In South Africa, the virus historically circulated in warthogs and ornithodorid ticks that were only found in warthog burrows in the north of the country. Regulations implemented in 1935 to prevent transfer of infected animals or products to the south initially proved effective but from 2016 there have been outbreaks of disease in the south that cannot be traced to transfer of infection from the north. From 1963 there were widespread translocations of warthogs to the south, initially from a source considered to be free of ornithodorid ticks. We undertook to determine whether sylvatic circulation of ASFV occurs in the south, including identification of potential new vectors, through testing extralimital warthogs for antibody and ticks for virus. Results of testing warthogs for antibody and other species of ticks for virus will be presented separately. Here we report finding Ornithodoros (Pavlovskyella) zumpti ticks in warthog burrows for the first time. This occurred in the Eastern Cape Province (ECP) in 2019. Since African swine fever was recognised in the ECP for the first time in 2020 and outbreaks of the disease in domestic pigs continue to occur there, priority should be given to determining the distribution range and vector potential of O. (P.) zumpti for ASFV.