Response of the cDC1 and cDC2 subtypes of tracheal dendritic cells to porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus

Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) is the most important disease affecting the swine industry worldwide. Although monocytes and macrophages, especially tissue-resident and alveolar macrophages, are the primary target of PRRSV, monocyte- and bone marrow-derived dendritic cells (DCs) are also susceptible to PRRSV infection. It has been shown that lung DCs cannot be infected with PRRSV, but the response and susceptibility of bona fide conventional DC subtypes (cDCs; cDC1 and cDC2) is unknown. In this work, evaluation of the response of tracheal cDC1 and cDC2 subsets to PRRSV revealed differential cytokine expression, whereby cDC1 subsets expressed higher levels of IFN-α and cDC2 subsets more IL-10. Toll-like receptors (TLRs) were also affected: cDC2 cells induced greater upregulation of TLR2 and TLR4, and CD163+ cells showed TLR3 upregulation. However, we could not demonstrate under our experimental conditions that cDC1 and cCD2 subsets are susceptible to PRRSV infection. Our findings show the effects of PRRSV on cDC1 and cDC2 subsets and that these cells were not infected by PRRSV.