Scull Tanner F, Strieder-Barboza Clarissa, Benitez Oscar J
Department of Veterinary Sciences, Davis College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX 79409, USA.
School of Veterinary Medicine, Texas Tech University, Amarillo, TX 79106, USA.
Pathogens. 2024 Oct 11;13(10):885. doi: 10.3390/pathogens13100885.
The current literature has identified many abnormalities in the immune expression of cows infected with the bovine leukemia virus (BLV). These studies have focused on individual cell, gene, or protein expression, failing to provide a comprehensive understanding of the changes in immune expression in animals with BLV. To identify the overall alterations in immune expression during BLV infection, the transcriptomes of the peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of cows seropositive or seronegative for BLV antibodies were sequenced. Whole blood samples were collected from 20 dairy cows and screened for BLV antibodies and PCR was used to quantify the proviral load of the samples. PBMCs were separated from whole blood using density gradient centrifugation from which RNA was isolated and sequenced. Three seropositive samples (BLV+; = 3), including one of each PVL category, low ( = 1), moderate ( = 1), and high ( = 1), and three seronegative samples (BLV-; = 3) were sequenced for differential gene expression analysis. The results showed major differences in the transcriptome profiles of the BLV+ and BLV- PBMCs and revealed a wide variety of immunological pathways affected by BLV infection. Our results suggest that disease state and PBMC gene expression vary depending on BLV proviral load levels and that BLV causes the suppression of normal immune responses and influences B and T cell gene expression, resulting in immune dysfunction.
目前的文献已经确定感染牛白血病病毒（BLV）的奶牛在免疫表达方面存在许多异常。这些研究集中在单个细胞、基因或蛋白质表达上，未能全面了解感染BLV的动物免疫表达的变化。为了确定BLV感染期间免疫表达的总体变化，对BLV抗体血清阳性或血清阴性奶牛的外周血单核细胞（PBMC）转录组进行了测序。从20头奶牛采集全血样本，检测BLV抗体，并使用PCR定量样本的前病毒载量。使用密度梯度离心法从全血中分离PBMC，从中提取RNA并进行测序。对三个血清阳性样本（BLV+；n = 3），包括每个PVL类别中的一个，低（n = 1）、中（n = 1）和高（n = 1），以及三个血清阴性样本（BLV-；n = 3）进行测序，以进行差异基因表达分析。结果显示BLV+和BLV- PBMC的转录组图谱存在主要差异，并揭示了受BLV感染影响的多种免疫途径。我们的结果表明，疾病状态和PBMC基因表达因BLV前病毒载量水平而异，并且BLV会导致正常免疫反应受到抑制，并影响B细胞和T细胞基因表达，从而导致免疫功能障碍。
