Adkins Morgan, Moisa Sonia, Beever Jon, Lear Andrea
College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37919, USA.
Animal Science, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37919, USA.
Genes (Basel). 2024 Nov 22;15(12):1500. doi: 10.3390/genes15121500.
Bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV) is an endemic virus of North American cattle populations with significant economic and animal health impacts. While BVDV infection has a myriad of clinical manifestations, a unique and problematic outcome is the establishment of a persistently infected (PI) animal following in utero viral infection. While it is well established that PI animals serve as a constant reservoir of BVDV, the mechanism for the maintained infection remains unknown despite multiple theories.
The purpose of this study was to use transcriptome analysis to investigate the long-term immune status of adult PI cattle and offer insight into the potential mechanistic establishment of persistent BVDV infection.
Peripheral blood mononuclear cells were collected from PI beef cattle (N = 6) and controls (N = 6) for targeted RNAseq analysis using 54 immune-related genes followed by pathway enrichment analysis.
Analysis revealed 29 differentially expressed genes (FDR < 0.05, fold change ≥ 2), representing 14 significant KEGG pathways between groups (FDR < 0.05). Transcriptome changes indicated chronic upregulation of interferon-gamma () with an unexpected expression of related genes.
These results provide novel insight into understanding the adult PI immune system and indicate maintained stimulation resulting from virus-mediated dysregulation.
牛病毒性腹泻病毒（BVDV）是北美牛群中的一种地方性病毒，对经济和动物健康有重大影响。虽然BVDV感染有多种临床表现，但一个独特且成问题的结果是子宫内病毒感染后会出现持续感染（PI）的动物。虽然已经明确PI动物是BVDV的持续储存库，但尽管有多种理论，维持感染的机制仍然未知。
本研究的目的是使用转录组分析来研究成年PI牛的长期免疫状态，并深入了解持续性BVDV感染的潜在机制。
从PI肉牛（N = 6）和对照牛（N = 6）中收集外周血单核细胞，使用54个免疫相关基因进行靶向RNA测序分析，随后进行通路富集分析。
分析发现29个差异表达基因（FDR < 0.05，倍数变化≥ 2），代表两组之间14条显著的KEGG通路（FDR < 0.05）。转录组变化表明γ干扰素（IFN-γ）长期上调，相关基因出现意外表达。
这些结果为理解成年PI免疫系统提供了新的见解，并表明病毒介导的失调导致持续刺激。
