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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Microbiol.
Sec. Virology
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2024.1443119

Rescue and Characterization of PCV4 Infectious Clones: Pathogenesis and Immune Response in Piglets

Provisionally accepted
Lan Chen Lan Chen 1Li-Shuang Deng Li-Shuang Deng 1Tong Xu Tong Xu 1Si-Yuan Lai Si-Yuan Lai 1Yan-Ru Ai Yan-Ru Ai 1Ling Zhu Ling Zhu 1,2*Zhiwen Xu Zhiwen Xu 1,2*
  • 1 College of Veterinary Medicine, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu, China
  • 2 College of Veterinary Medicine Sichuan Key Laboratory of Animal Epidemic Disease and Human Health, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Porcine circovirus 4 (PCV4) was first identified in 2019, categorized within the genus Circovirus in the family Circoviridae. To date, the virus has not been isolated from clinical samples. Meanwhile, many aspects of the biology and pathogenic mechanisms of PCV4 infection remain unknown. In this study, PCV4 was successfully rescued from an infectious clone. We utilized a PCV4 virus stock derived from this infectious clone to intranasally inoculate 4-week-old specific-pathogen-free piglets to evaluate PCV4 pathogenesis. The rescued PCV4 was capable of replicating in both PK-15 cells and piglets, with the virus detectable in nearly all collected samples from the challenge groups. Pathological lesions and PCV4-specific antigens were observed in various tissues and organs, including the lungs, kidneys, lymph nodes, spleen, and liver, in the inoculated piglets. Additionally, the levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines in the serum of the PCV4-inoculated group were significantly elevated compared to the control group, indicating that the induced inflammatory response may contribute to tissue damage associated with PCV4 infection. These findings offer new insights into the pathogenesis and inflammatory responses associated with PCV4-related diseases.

    Keywords: porcine circovirus 4(PCV4), pathogenicity, rescue, immune response, Infection model

    Received: 03 Jun 2024; Accepted: 11 Jul 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Chen, Deng, Xu, Lai, Ai, Zhu and Xu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Ling Zhu, College of Veterinary Medicine, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu, China
    Zhiwen Xu, College of Veterinary Medicine, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu, China

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