Immune cell platform investigates ASF infections
ASF causes domestic pigs to suffer a lethal fever.
Researchers are hoping that a new process to grow immune cells on demand will help investigate responses to African Swine Fever (ASF).
The cell growth platform could help scientists to better understand the differences between disease responses from wild and domestic pigs.
This platform provided scientists with the opportunity to study how domestic pigs and wild pigs respond to infection by the virus. It also enabled them to explore why wild African pigs showed limited signs of illness, while domestic pigs suffered a lethal fever.
The research team, led by the Roslin Institute, took tissue from domestic pigs, wild boar, red river hogs and warthogs. These tissue samples were used to generate induced pluripotent stem cells, which can be developed into various tissue types.
These stem cells were then developed into macrophages – the immune cell type which is targeted by ASF.
Macrophages cannot be cultured long-term in a lab. Therefore, by storing stem cells for future development into macrophages, the research team has uncovered a renewable source of macrophage cells.
The immune cells of all four species support the infection and replication of the virus, therefore validating their utility.
Based on laboratory tests, scientists reported a suppressed immune response in the warthog macrophages. Meanwhile, domestic pigs displayed an immune over-reaction.
Researchers believe this might be the reason for an absence of clinical signs of infection and resilience in wild African pigs.
This discovery could help inform the development of farmed pigs which are resilient to the disease. It could also determine if pigs could be enabled to be entirely resistant to infection.
Dr Tom Watson, from the Roslin Institute, said: “African Swine Fever is devastating to domestic pigs, but has little impact on their wild African cousins, and the key to understanding this lies in the immune cells that are the target of the virus across all pig species.
“Our development of a method to produce immune cells on demand will be useful in the study of this complex virus, and will support research into these types of immune cells more broadly.”
Dr Tom Burdon, also from the Roslin Institute, added: “A consistently available source of macrophage immune cells represents a significant development for the study of infection and immunity without reliance on animals for research.”
The full study can be found in the journal Stem Cell Reports.
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