Establishment of canine and feline cells expressing canine signaling lymphocyte activation molecule for canine distemper virus study

Signaling lymphocyte activation molecule (SLAM) is one of the receptors for canine distemper virus (CDV). In this study, canine and feline cells expressing canine SLAM, designated A-72/cSLAM and CRFK/cSLAM, were established for the in vitro study of canine distemper. Recent CDV isolates, KDK-1 and 246, which belong to genotypes Asia/H1 and Asia/H2, respectively, rapidly grew and produced distinct syncytia in both the SLAM-expressing cells. The virus-neutralizing (VN) test was successfully performed using these cells, and the results indicated that sera from dogs experimentally infected with KDK-1 had higher VN titers for homologous strain KDK-1 than for heterologous strain 246 and the vaccine Onderstepoort. These newly established cells expressing canine SLAM would help virological and serological analyses of canine distemper.