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Journal of Virology, October 2002, p. 10044-10049, Vol. 76, No. 19
0022-538X/02/$04.00+0 DOI: 10.1128/JVI.76.19.10044-10049.2002
Copyright © 2002, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.
Section of Comparative Medicine, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut 06520-8016,1 Forge 4ward, Inc., Somerville, New Jersey 088762
Received 16 April 2002/ Accepted 27 June 2002
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A recent national survey found that parvovirus infections are highly prevalent among laboratory rats and mice (17). Infection with some of these agents can be lethal in fetal or perinatal animals, probably due to high numbers of mitotically active cells that serve as targets for cytolytic viral replication. Larger impacts on biomedical research result from clinically silent infections in infant or adult rodents in which biological processes and immune responses are altered. Specifically, infections with murine parvoviruses such as mouse minute virus and mouse parvovirus are known to inhibit several T-cell effector functions in vitro (2, 8); suppress antigen-induced proliferation of specific cloned T cells (18); augment the rate of tumor, allogeneic, and syngeneic graft rejection; and modulate other T-cell effector functions (19, 21). In addition, infection with rat virus (RV), the prototypic parvovirus of rats, can decrease lymphocyte viability and suppress proliferative responses to alloantigens (4), diminish responses of mixed lymphocyte culture and cytolytic T cells from peripheral and mesenteric lymph nodes (20), alter humoral responses to ovalbumin (5), and provoke autoimmune diabetes in the diabetes-resistant strain of Biobreeding/Worcester (BB/WOR) rats (3, 5, 13).
Despite the impact of these agents on host immunity, little is known about immune responses to rodent parvoviruses. It is known that rats develop antiviral antibodies and perivascular mononuclear cell infiltrates in infected tissues (10, 14). Virus-specific antibodies have been shown to prevent establishment of RV infection but not to prevent or clear previously established infections. Administration of immune sera from RV-infected convalescent rats before or at the time of virus inoculation protected juvenile athymic rats from infection (9). Additionally, transfer of colostral or serum antibodies before or at the time of infection protected infant rats from developing RV infection. In contrast, administration of immune sera to infant rats 1 day after virus inoculation failed to prevent RV infection (11). Furthermore, rats inoculated at 6 days of age develop high anti-RV antibody titers, and yet virus is able to persist (15). Therefore, antiviral antibodies are not sufficient to clear established RV infection.
Evidence from previous in vivo studies in our laboratory indicates the importance of T cells in viral clearance. RV infection of adult athymic rats (rnu/rnu) results in the development of a persistent viral infection not observed in immunocompetent adults (9). Additional studies suggest that innate resistance plays a role in survival of acute infection. RV infection of either fetal or neonatal rats, in which innate immunity is immature, induces high mortality, not observed upon infection of either 6-day-old or adult rats (12). Acquired immunity, which is not functionally mature in rats until at least 4 weeks after birth (23), appears to be critical for viral clearance in animals that survive acute infection. This is substantiated in vivo by development of persistent infection in rats inoculated at 6 days of age (15, 16) in contrast to clearance of infection by adult rats (9).
We have begun to examine cellular and humoral immune responses during RV infection of adult rats to help clarify the role of host immunity during viral clearance. Specifically, we used proliferation assays, including analysis of cytokine production, to document cellular responses to the major capsid protein, VP2, during acute and clearance phases of RV infection. In addition, isotype profiles of VP2-specific humoral responses were determined. Our data show that a VP2-specific Th1-type response, as indicated by proliferation, gamma interferon (IFN-
) secretion, and immunoglobulin G2a (IgG2a) antibody production, was generated during clearance of RV infection.
Optimization of proliferation assays. Eight-week-old specific-pathogen-free inbred Lewis rats (LEW/SsNHsd; Rattus norvegicus) were obtained from Harlan Sprague-Dawley (Indianapolis, Ind.), housed and husbanded in microisolette cages, and fed autoclaved chow and sterile water ad libitum under standards that met or exceeded those recommended in the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals (21a). All experiments were approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee. Rats were inoculated oronasally by placing 4 x 104 50% tissue culture infective doses of a suspension of the UMass strain of RV (40 µl) on the external nares. RV-UMass had been plaque purified, and stocks were prepared as previously described (13).
Initial proliferation assays, using rat splenocytes (SC), were performed to optimize parameters used to test responses to mitogenic stimulation. Single-cell suspensions were generated by homogenization of spleens in a glass tissue grinder prior to purification over a Ficoll-Hypaque gradient (20). Cells were collected, washed in medium, incubated in hypotonic lysis buffer to remove remaining red blood cells, and counted. Triplicate wells were incubated in RPMI medium with 10% fetal calf serum (negative control) or medium containing concanavalin A (ConA) (2.5 µg/ml; positive control). At 2, 3, 4, and 5 days after plating, 1 µCi of [3H]thymidine (87 Ci/mmol) was added per well. Approximately 20 h after addition of label, cells were harvested onto glass fiber filters, washed, and counted in a liquid scintillation counter to determine the number of incorporated counts. A stimulation index (SI) was calculated for each individual rat and for each group (infected or uninfected). After evaluation of various cell concentrations and times of incubation with mitogen, optimal proliferation was seen after incubation of 6 x 105 rat SC per well for 4 days with ConA prior to addition of [3H]thymidine (data not shown).
To examine virus-specific proliferative responses, RV VP2 was expressed with the pET expression system (Novagen, Madison, Wis.) and purified, after solubilization in 8 M urea, by metal chelation chromatography (15). Because urea was cytotoxic to rat SC, purified VP2 protein was dialyzed to a final urea concentration of 0.5 M in phosphate-buffered saline for use in all subsequent assays. Peak VP2-specific proliferation for SC from infected rats occurred after 6 days of incubation with dialyzed VP2 (data not shown). To optimize the VP2 concentration used for proliferation assays, SC from infected and uninfected rats were incubated for 6 days with four VP2 concentrations (Fig. 1). Triplicate cultures were incubated in medium alone (negative control), medium containing ConA (2.5 µg/ml; positive control), or increasing concentrations of dialyzed RV VP2 (0.2, 2, 10, and 20 µg/ml). SC from uninfected rats had a mean SI of 1.7 or less at all VP2 concentrations tested. Significant proliferation (SI of 25 to 30) from SC of an infected rat was seen in response to VP2 concentrations of 2 µg/ml or greater. The proliferative response decreased to an SI of less than 10 when the concentration of VP2 was 0.2 µg/ml. In all subsequent experiments, VP2 was used at a concentration of 2.5 µg/ml.
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FIG. 1. SC proliferation in response to ConA and multiple concentrations of RV VP2. At PID 35, SC from six infected and three uninfected rats were individually purified. Triplicate cultures of 6 x 105 SC from each rat were incubated in RPMI medium with 10% fetal calf serum (negative control), medium containing ConA (2.5 µg/ml; positive control), or increasing concentrations of bacterium-expressed RV VP2 (0.2, 2, 10, and 20 µg/ml). In this and the other figures, the SI was calculated for individual rats by dividing the mean counts incorporated in triplicate ConA- or VP2-treated cultures by the mean counts incorporated in the triplicate negative-control cultures. Subsequently, the mean SI for each group (infected and uninfected), SD, and SE were calculated by using Microsoft Excel. The figure shows the mean SIs plus SEs.
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FIG. 2. Proliferation of SC from uninfected or infected rats. Mean SIs plus SEs at 7-day intervals postinfection are shown for SC from three uninfected rats (A) or five infected rats (B) incubated with ConA, ß-Gal, or VP2.
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FIG. 3. RV infection of SC determined by in situ hybridization. Percent infected SC were determined for individual rats. Mean percent infected cells plus SD were calculated for all groups (PID 7 includes time of necropsy, 4 days in medium, and 4 days in medium with ConA; PID 14 includes the above plus 6 days in medium with VP2).
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Cytokine analysis of proliferating SC.
We examined cytokine production by SC stimulated with VP2 in order to characterize the type (Th1 versus Th2) of immune response stimulated by RV infection. Prior to the addition of [3H]thymidine on day 7, cultures were frozen at -80°C for cytokine analysis. Plates were thawed, cells were pelleted, and culture supernatants were removed and analyzed with Pharmingen (San Diego, Calif.) OptEIA rat IFN-
and interleukin 4 (IL-4) enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kits. No IL-4 production was detected at any time point. No IFN-
was detected in SC cultures incubated with ß-Gal (data not shown) or SC cultures from uninfected rats incubated with VP2 (Fig. 4). High levels of IFN-
were evident, however, in VP2-stimulated SC cultures from RV-infected rats harvested on PID 14, 21, 28, and 35 (Fig. 4). IFN-
production peaked at PID 14, a time point when proliferation is first evident at a low level. IFN-
levels were reduced but significant at PID 21, 28, and 35. Replicate studies duplicated this pattern of cytokine production. Reduction in cytokine production at later time points was not indicative of decreased proliferation, as SIs remained high at these time points. These data suggest that a limited number of VP2-reactive T cells produce large amounts of IFN-
early in infection, coincident with a rapid reduction in the number of RV-positive cells in tissues (R. Jacoby, F. Paturzo, E. Johnson, and L. Ball-Goodrich, unpublished data). Production of high levels of IFN-
and no detectable IL-4 is consistent with induction of a Th1-mediated immune response.
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FIG. 4. Cytokine production during proliferation of rat SC. Cytokine levels for SC from individual rats (five infected and three uninfected) were determined with a standard curve, and mean cytokine levels (plus SEs) were calculated for each group (medium alone or VP2) per time point.
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TABLE 1. Anti-VP2 antibody titers during infection
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production after incubation with RV VP2 was detected as early as PID 14, and it was maintained throughout the time course. Recent experiments with adult rats showed that numbers of infected cells and viral titers in tissues peaked at PID 8, showed a marked decrease between PID 10 and 14, and were cleared by PID 35 (Jacoby et al., unpublished). Our analysis of viral infection of purified SC further confirmed this time course. Thus, kinetics for RV clearance correlate with the induction of virus-specific immune responses in the host: a high IgG response by PID 14 as well as induction of a VP2-specific proliferative response that includes high production of IFN-
. Similar results, including a Th1-type proliferative response to VP1 and VP2 with production of IFN-
, were obtained in studies of immune responses during human parvovirus B19 infection (6, 24). Future studies of host immunity during RV infection will focus on delineating the role of T-cell subpopulations (CD4+ and CD8+) in establishing Th1 immunity and viral clearance.
The results from our studies have direct implications for researchers using in vivo or ex vivo rat models of research. Although RV infection of adult rats is clinically silent, we observed induction of a strong Th1-mediated immune response during infection. While the established immune response is virus specific, the Th1 environment, represented by high IFN-
levels, may affect immune responses to other antigens. For example, researchers using the rat model for diabetes (DR-BB/WOR) found that RV infection selectively activated Th1-like CD4+ T cells and down-regulated Th2-like CD4+ T cells (5). In addition, it affected the primary humoral response to ovalbumin by inducing a strong bystander Th1-biased activation (5). Therefore, researchers using rat models for infectious disease or immune studies must be aware of possible impacts of RV infection.
This work was supported by a National Institutes of Health grant to R.O.J. (RO1-RR11740).
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