title: Characterization of Chinese giant salamander iridovirus tissue tropism and inflammatory response after infection.
abstract: The Chinese giant salamander iridovirus (GSIV), belonging to the genus Ranavirus in the family Iridoviridae, causes severe hemorrhagic lesions and nearly 100% mortality in naturally infected Chinese giant salamanders Andrias davidiamus. However, the replication and distribution of the virus has not been well characterized in vivo. Using in situ hybridization, the expression of the GSIV major capsid protein (MCP) was detected in the cytoplasm of cells of the spleen, kidney, liver and gut tissues. MCP expression in the spleen and kidney appeared to fluctuate significantly during the acute phase of infection. Using an immunofluorescence assay, GSIV antigens were abundant in the spleen and kidney tissues but appeared to be at relatively low levels in the liver and gut. Additionally, there were significant changes in the expression of the pro-inflammatory cytokines macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF), tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α) and interleukin-1β (IL-1β) in different tissues in response to infection with GSIV. The expression of MIF, TNF-α and IL-1β had significantly increased in the spleen at 3 d post-infection; this correlated with a decrease in virus replication in the spleen. These results suggest that the spleen and kidney are the major target tissues of GSIV, and the increased expression of MIF, TNF‑α and IL-1β may contribute to a reduction of virus replication in the spleen.
authors.affiliation: Division of Fish Disease, Yangtze River Fisheries Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences, Wuhan, Hubei 430223, PR China.
authors.forename: Nan
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.forename: Yuding
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Fan
authors.forename: Yong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Wenzhi
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Jie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.forename: Yan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Meng
authors.forename: Congxin
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Xie
authors.forename: Lingbing
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zeng
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000956:Antigens, Viral / Q000302:isolation & purification; D004266:DNA Virus Infections / Q000662:veterinary* / Q000821:virology; D015967:Gene Expression Regulation, Viral; D017994:Iridovirus / Q000145:classification / Q000276:immunology / Q000502:physiology*; D060888:Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D014562:Caudata; D056189:Viral Tropism / Q000502:physiology*; D014779:Virus Replication / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D000956:Antigens, Viral