Porcine alveolar macrophage CD163 abundance is a pivotal switch for porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus infection.

In this study, we first generated primary immortalized PAMs (iPAMs) using SV40 large T antigen and demonstrated that CD163 expression is suppressed by the alternative splicing of mRNA in iPAMs. Two forms of CD163 transcripts were discovered, and most iPAMs expressed a short-form CD163 transcript that lacked from scavenger receptor cysteine-rich tandem repeat 1 (SRCR1) to SRCR5 of the functional domain. More importantly, using flow cytometric cell sorting technology, we isolated CD163-positive single-cell-derived clones with varying CD163 abundances to investigate the relationship between CD163 abundance and PRRSV infection. For the first time, we showed that cells with low CD163 abundance (approximately 20%) do not initiate PRRSV infection, while cells with moderate CD163 abundance display limited infection. PRRSV initiated efficient infection only in cells with high CD163 abundances. Our results demonstrate that CD163 abundance is a pivotal switch for PRRSV replication. PMID: 29552301 [PubMed]
Source: Oncotarget - Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: Oncotarget Source Type: research