Antagonisms of ASFV towards Host Defense Mechanisms: Knowledge Gaps in Viral Immune Evasion and Pathogenesis

Liangzheng Yu; Zhenbang Zhu; Junhua Deng; Kegong Tian; Xiangdong Li

doi:10.3390/v15020574

Antagonisms of ASFV towards Host Defense Mechanisms: Knowledge Gaps in Viral Immune Evasion and Pathogenesis

Viruses. 2023 Feb 19;15(2):574. doi: 10.3390/v15020574.

Authors

Liangzheng Yu^{1

2}, Zhenbang Zhu^{1

2}, Junhua Deng³, Kegong Tian⁴, Xiangdong Li^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Jiangsu Co-Innovation Center for Prevention and Control of Important Animal Infectious Diseases and Zoonoses, College of Veterinary Medicine, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou 225009, China.
² Joint International Research Laboratory of Agriculture and Agri-Product Safety, Ministry of Education, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou 225009, China.
³ Luoyang Putai Biotech Co., Ltd., Luoyang 471003, China.
⁴ College of Animal Science and Veterinary Medicine, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou 450002, China.

Abstract

African swine fever (ASF) causes high morbidity and mortality of both domestic pigs and wild boars and severely impacts the swine industry worldwide. ASF virus (ASFV), the etiologic agent of ASF epidemics, mainly infects myeloid cells in swine mononuclear phagocyte system (MPS), including blood-circulating monocytes, tissue-resident macrophages, and dendritic cells (DCs). Since their significant roles in bridging host innate and adaptive immunity, these cells provide ASFV with favorable targets to manipulate and block their antiviral activities, leading to immune escape and immunosuppression. To date, vaccines are still being regarded as the most promising measure to prevent and control ASF outbreaks. However, ASF vaccine development is delayed and limited by existing knowledge gaps in viral immune evasion, pathogenesis, etc. Recent studies have revealed that ASFV can employ diverse strategies to interrupt the host defense mechanisms via abundant self-encoded proteins. Thus, this review mainly focuses on the antagonisms of ASFV-encoded proteins towards IFN-I production, IFN-induced antiviral response, NLRP3 inflammasome activation, and GSDMD-mediated pyroptosis. Additionally, we also make a brief discussion concerning the potential challenges in future development of ASF vaccine.

Keywords: African swine fever virus; immune evasion; pathogenesis.

Publication types

Review
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Adaptive Immunity
African Swine Fever*
Animals
Antiviral Agents
Immune Evasion
Monocytes
Sus scrofa
Swine

Substances

Antiviral Agents

Grants and funding

This work was supported by Jiangsu Agricultural Science and Technology Independent Innovation Fund Project (CX(21)2035), Jiangsu Provincial Key R&D plan (BE2020398), the National Key R&D Program of China (2021YFD1801302-1), the 111 Project D18007, and the Project of the Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions (PAPD).