Abstract
Atypical porcine pestivirus (APPV) is a widely distributed pathogen causing congenital tremor (CT) in piglets. So far, no data are available regarding the humoral immune response against APPV. In this study, piglets and their sows from an affected herd were tested longitudinally for viral genome and antibodies. APPV genome was detected in the majority of the piglets (14/15) from CT affected litters. Transient infection of gilts was observed. Kinetics of Erns- and E2-specific antibodies and their neutralizing capacity were determined by recently (Erns) and newly (E2) developed antibody ELISAs and virus neutralization assays. Putative maternally derived antibodies (MDA) were detected in most piglets, but displayed only low to moderate neutralizing capacity (ND50 ≤ 112). Horizontal APPV transmission occurred when uninfected and infected piglets were mingled on the flat deck. Horizontally infected piglets were clinically inapparent and showed only transient viremia with subsequently consistently high E2 antibody levels. For piglets from CT affected litters, significantly lower neutralizing antibody titers were observed. Results indicate that E2 represents the main target of neutralizing antibodies. Characterization of the humoral immune response against APPV will help to provide valuable serological diagnosis, to understand the epidemiology of this novel pathogen, and to implement tailored prevention strategies.
Highlights
Pestiviruses belong to the family Flaviviridae and comprise animal pathogens associated with severe economic losses in livestock breeding [1]
Newborn piglets (n = 20) from individual litters and six gilts were investigated for Atypical porcine pestivirus (APPV) infection, presence of APPV-specific antibodies and their neutralizing capacity
Subclinical horizontal infection with APPV on the flat deck resulted in the induction of high neutralizing antibody titers, which provide protective immunity mainly based on E2-specific antibodies
Summary
Pestiviruses belong to the family Flaviviridae and comprise animal pathogens associated with severe economic losses in livestock breeding [1]. The genus Pestivirus consists of at least eleven species (Pestivirus A to K), of which four are well established pestiviruses (Pestivirus A to D), namely bovine viral diarrhea virus 1 (BVDV-1), bovine viral diarrhea virus 2 (BVDV-2), classical swine fever virus (CSFV) and border disease virus (BDV) [2]. Atypical porcine pestivirus (APPV) is a genetically distinct pestivirus, which was discovered in 2015 and is classified as Pestivirus K species [2,3]. APPV was demonstrated to be one major causative agent of congenital tremor (CT) [4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11].
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