Expression of type I interferon-induced antiviral state and pro-apoptosis markers during experimental infection with low or high virulence bovine viral diarrhea virus in beef calves

The objective of this study was to compare the mRNA expression of host genes involved in type-I interferon-induced antiviral state (IFN-α, IFN-β, Mx-1, PKR, OAS-1 and ISG-15), and apoptosis (caspase-3, -8, and -9), after experimental infection of beef calves with low or high virulence noncytopathic (ncp) bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV) strains. Thirty BVDV-naïve, clinically normal calves were randomly assigned to three groups. Calves were intranasally inoculated with low (LV; n = 10, strain SD-1) or high (HV; n = 10, strain 1373) virulence ncp BVDV or BVDV-free cell culture medium (Control, n = 10). Quantitative RT-PCR was used to determine the target gene expression in tracheo-bronchial lymph nodes and spleen 5 days after infection. Interferon-α and -β mRNA levels were up-regulated in tracheo-bronchial lymph nodes (P < 0.05) in the HV group, but not in the LV group, compared with the control group. There was an up-regulation of type I interferon-induced genes in spleen and tracheo-bronchial lymph nodes of HV and LV groups, compared with the control group (P < 0.01). mRNA levels of OAS-1 and ISG-15 were significantly higher in LV than HV calves (P < 0.05). A significant up-regulation of caspase-8 and -9 was observed in tracheo-bronchial lymph nodes in the LV group (P = 0.01), but not in the HV group. In conclusion, experimental infection with either high or low virulence BVDV strains induced a significant expression of the type I interferon-induced genes in beef calves. There was a differential expression of some interferon-induced genes (OAS-1 and ISG-15) and pro-apoptosis markers based on BVDV virulence and genotype.

► IFN-α and -β were upregulated 5 days post infection with BVDV-2 but not with BVDV-1.
► BVDV infection (high or low virulence) upregulated type I interferon-induced genes.
► BVDV-1 infection induced higher expression of OAS-1 and ISG-15 than BVDV-2 infection.
► Upregulation of caspase-8 and -9 was only observed in calves infected with BVDV-1.