Comparison of primary virus isolation in pulmonary alveolar macrophages and four different continuous cell lines for type 1 and type 2 porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus
Article [Version publiée]
Résumé·s
Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome Virus (PRRSV) has a highly restricted
cellular tropism. In vivo, the virus primarily infects tissue-specific macrophages in the nose, lungs,
tonsils, and pharyngeal lymphoid tissues. In vitro however, the MARC-145 cell line is one of the
few PRRSV susceptible cell lines that are routinely used for in vitro propagation. Previously, several
PRRSV non-permissive cell lines were shown to become susceptible to PRRSV infection upon
expression of recombinant entry receptors (e.g., PK15Sn-CD163, PK15S10-CD163). In the present study,
we examined the suitability of different cell lines as a possible replacement of primary pulmonary
alveolar macrophages (PAM) cells for isolation and growth of PRRSV. The susceptibility of four
different cell lines (PK15Sn-CD163, PK15S10-CD163, MARC-145, and MARC-145Sn) for the primary
isolation of PRRSV from PCR positive sera (both PRRSV1 and PRRSV2) was compared with that
of PAM. To find possible correlations between the cell tropism and the viral genotype, 54 field
samples were sequenced, and amino acid residues potentially associated with the cell tropism were
identified. Regarding the virus titers obtained with the five different cell types, PAM gave the
highest mean virus titers followed by PK15Sn-CD163, PK15S10-CD163, MARC-145Sn, and MARC-145.
The titers in PK15Sn-CD163 and PK15S10-CD163 cells were significantly correlated with virus titers in
PAM for both PRRSV1 (p < 0.001) and PRRSV2 (p < 0.001) compared with MARC-145Sn (PRRSV1:
p = 0.22 and PRRSV2: p = 0.03) and MARC-145 (PRRSV1: p = 0.04 and PRRSV2: p = 0.12). Further,
a possible correlation between cell tropism and viral genotype was assessed using PRRSV whole
genome sequences in a Genome-Wide-Association Study (GWAS). The structural protein residues
GP2:187L and N:28R within PRRSV2 sequences were associated with their growth in MARC-145.
The GP5:78I residue for PRRSV2 and the Nsp11:155F residue for PRRSV1 was linked to a higher
replication on PAM. In conclusion, PK15Sn-CD163 and PK15S10-CD163 cells are phenotypically closely
related to the in vivo target macrophages and are more suitable for virus isolation and titration than
MARC-145/MARC-145Sn cells. The residues of PRRSV proteins that are potentially related with cell
tropism will be further investigated in the future.