Project

Recent data predict an increased risk for virus transmission upon Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) introduction in pigs: Study of JEV induced immune responses and evaluation of diagnostic tests

Code
160Q07818
Duration
01 January 2019 → 30 September 2021
Funding
Federal funding: various
Research disciplines
  • Natural sciences
    • Animal biology
Keywords
pigs virus
 
Project description

The one year JEV-PIG project that was granted during the RF call of 2017 allowed our consortium to perform an in vivo infection study with Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) in pigs to compare JEV pathogenesis and humoral immune responses after infection via 3 inoculation (oronasal inoculation to mimic the vector-free transmission and intradermal inoculation of virus alone or of virus combined with mosquito saliva to mimic vector-mediated transmission) and to identify a relevant challenge model. This proposal aims to analyze the valuable samples collected during that infection experiment and to use the obtained expertise to address the following research questions: Immunology: Since the first results of the in vivo study indicate differences in pathogenesis depending on the used inoculation route, following aspects will be studied in detail: What is the role of the local (innate) and cell-mediated immune responses in the onset and control of JEV infection in the host and do dey differ depending on the inoculation route? What is the role of tonsils and draining lymph nodes in JEV replication and persistence? Diagnostics: Are the test characteristics (sensitivity, specificity, potential to detect different JEV genotypes, occurrence of cross-reactivity with other flaviviruses) of the implemented tests satisfactory, and how can these be optimized or replaced if proven necessary? The focus on the evaluation of diagnostic tools in this proposal comes in response to the comments of the evaluation committee during the oral defense of the JEV-PIG project and is further supported by the preliminary observation that published JEV real time PCRs seem to cross react with West Nile virus.