Abstract
Foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) is the causative agent of a highly contagious viral disease that affects multiple cloven-hooved hosts including important livestock (pigs, cattle, sheep and goats) as well as several wild animal species. Crossover of FMDV between domestic and wildlife populations may prolong virus circulation during outbreaks. The wild boar (Sus scrofa) is considered a reservoir of various pathogens that can infect other wildlife, domestic animals, and humans. As wild boar and domestic pigs are susceptible to the same pathogens and can infect each other, infected wild boar populations may represent a threat to the pig industry and to international trade. The ncRNAs are synthetic non-coding RNA transcripts, mimicking structural domains in the FMDV genome, known to exert a broad-spectrum antiviral and immunomodulatory effect in swine, bovine and mice cells. Here, we show the type I interferon-dependent, robust and broad range antiviral activity induced by the ncRNAs in a cell line derived from wild boar lung cells (WSL). Transfection of WSL cells with the ncRNAs exerted a protective effect against infection with FMDV, vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV), swine vesicular disease virus (SVDV) and African swine fever virus (ASFV). Our results prove the biological activity of the ncRNAs in cells of an FMDV wild animal host species against a variety of viruses affecting pigs, including relevant viral pathogens of epizootic risk.
Highlights
Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is a severe, highly contagious and transboundary viral disease that has a significant economic impact affecting the production of livestock and disrupting regional and international trade in animals and animal products
We showed the enhancing effect of the internal ribosome entry site (IRES) transcripts on the specific B- and T-cell mediated immune responses elicited by a conventional inactivated FMD vaccine in pigs, increasing the rate of protection against Foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) challenge [17]
The 470 nt long RNA transcripts corresponding to the IRES in the 5′ NCR of the FMDV genome conferred the highest levels of protection against FMDV in mice [11] and were able to enhance the immune response of an FMD vaccine in mice and pigs [17, 23]
Summary
Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is a severe, highly contagious and transboundary viral disease that has a significant economic impact affecting the production of livestock and disrupting regional and international trade in animals and animal products. As a result, infected wild boar populations may represent a threat to the pig industry and to international trade How this affects the risk of FMD in Europe is a relevant aspect to be considered [5]. The antiviral activity induced in transfected WSL cells effectively inhibited infection by FMDV and by three other relevant viruses: vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) and swine vesicular disease virus (SVDV)—two RNA viruses causing vesicular disease in pigs— and by African swine fever virus (ASFV), a complex DNA viral pathogen causing a highly virulent disease of domestic swine with devastating consequences for swine industries and food security globally
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