Poly (I: C) inhibits reticuloendothelial virus replication in chicken macrophage-like cells through the activation of toll-like receptor-3 signaling.

Reticuloendothelial virus (REV) is widely found in many domestic poultry areas and results in severe immunosuppression of infected chickens. This increases the susceptibility to other pathogens, which causes economic losses to the poultry industry. The aim of our study was to determine whether polyinosinic-polycytidylic acid [Poly (I: C)] treatment could inhibit REV replication in chicken macrophage-like cell line, HD11. We found that Poly (I: C) treatment could markedly inhibit REV replication in HD11 from 24 to 48 h post infection (hpi). Additionally, Poly (I: C) treatment could switch HD11 from an inactive type into M1-like polarization from 24 to 48 hpi. Furthermore, Poly (I: C) treatment promoted interferon-ß secretion from HD11 post REV infection. Moreover, Toll-like receptor-3 (TLR-3) mRNA and protein levels in HD11 treated with Poly (I: C) were markedly increased compared to those of HD11 not treated with Poly (I: C). The above results suggested that Poly (I: C) treatment switches HD11 into M1-like polarization to secret more interferon-ß and activate TLR-3 signaling, which contributes to block REV replication. Our findings provide a theoretical reference for further studying the underlying pathogenic mechanism of REV and Poly (I: C) as a potential therapeutic intervention against REV infection.

Partial reconstitution of a replication-competent retrovirus in helper cells with partial overlaps between vector and helper cell genomes.

Contamination of retroviral vector preparations with replication-competent retroviruses is a major safety concern in human gene therapy. These can arise by recombination between retroviral vectors and packaging cell sequences. Recently, we constructed new packaging lines, derived from spleen necrosis virus (SNV) that do not contain overlapping regions of homology between these two components (DSH134G and DSH29B cells). These cell lines were tested for the presence of recombination products and replication-competent viruses in comparison to a similar packaging line (DSN) that contains a partial overlap between vector and viral protein coding regions. No recombination products were detected in DSH cells. However, we found that recombination had occurred in DSN cells, partially reconstituting a provirus-like structure that was capable of being spread, although inefficiently, through an infected cell culture. Our data indicate that even small regions of sequence homology eventually allow homologous recombination between vector and helper cell genomes.