The immunity protection of intestine induced by pseudorabies virus del gI/gE/TK in piglets

Yang Zhang; Lei Xu; Qian Tao; Zheyan Liu; Jianhua Wen; Tong Xu; Siyuan Lai; Yanru Ai; Zhiwen Xu; Ling Zhu

doi:10.3389/fmicb.2023.1295524

The immunity protection of intestine induced by pseudorabies virus del gI/gE/TK in piglets

Front Microbiol. 2024 Jan 5:14:1295524. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2023.1295524. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Yang Zhang¹, Lei Xu¹, Qian Tao¹, Zheyan Liu¹, Jianhua Wen¹, Tong Xu¹, Siyuan Lai¹, Yanru Ai¹, Zhiwen Xu^{1

2}, Ling Zhu^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ College of Veterinary Medicine, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu, China.
² Key Laboratory of Animal Disease and Human Health of Sichuan Province, Chengdu, China.

Abstract

Compared to the classical strain of Pseudorabies virus (PRV), the PRV variant exhibits stronger transmissibility and pathogenicity, causing immense disasters for the global pig industry. Based on this variant, our laboratory has preliminarily constructed a modified pseudorabies virus with deletions in the gE/gI/TK genes. In this study, the protective efficacy of PRV XJ del gI/gE/TK against piglet intestinal damage was evaluated. The results demonstrated that piglets immunized with PRV XJ del gI/gE/TK exhibited alleviated intestinal damage caused by the PRV XJ variant strain. This included reduced viral load, suppressed inflammation, and maintenance of intestinal structure and function. Additionally, PRV XJ del gI/gE/TK also strongly activated the innate immune response in the intestines, increasing the expression of antiviral factor mRNA and the secretion of SIgA to counteract the attack of the PRV XJ variant strain. Our study indicates that PRV XJ del gI/gE/TK can inhibit intestinal damage caused by PRV XJ variant strain and activate the innate immune response in the intestines.

Keywords: inflammation; intestinal barrier; intestinal damage; intestinal immunity; pseudorabies virus.

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This work was supported by the Basic construction tasks of the innovation team of experimental pig resources development (No. NCTIP-XD1C14), the Chongqing Municipal Technology Innovation and Application Development Project (no. cstc2021jscx-dxwt BX0007), the Key K&D Program of Sichuan Science and Technology Plan (no. 2022YFN0007), the Porcine Major Science and Technology Project of Sichuan Science and Technology Plan (no. 2021ZDZX0010-3), the Sichuan Provincial Department of Science and Technology Rural Area Key R&D Program (no. 2020YFN0147), Research and demonstration of key technologies for prevention and control of xenogeneic pig diseases (2023YFN0021).