ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Immunol.
Sec. Viral Immunology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2025.1596490
Age-dependent differences in type I interferon, IL-12 and pro-inflammatory cytokine production by porcine peripheral blood mononuclear cells in response to pseudorabies virus-infected cells
Provisionally accepted
- Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
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Pseudorabies virus is a porcine alphaherpesvirus that causes devastating disease with high mortality in young piglets but much milder, mainly respiratory, problems in older pigs. Here, we report marked age-dependent differences in the cytokine response profile of primary porcine peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) to pseudorabies virus (PRV)-infected cells. Notably, IFN-α and IL-12 production in response to PRV remains low to almost undetectable in piglets up to 8.5 weeks of age, followed by a marked increase in older piglets, which coincides with age-related shifts in PRV symptomatology. Additionally, we found that PBMC from newborn piglets exhibit a high IL-6 production which, in combination with the low IL-12 levels, suggests a Th2/Th17-biased immune response, similar to neonatal humans and mice. Our results reveal a remarkable age-dependent different in PBMC cytokine response to PRV and provide a basis to identify cytokines or adjuvants that shift the neonatal immune response towards a Th1 response, potentially improving outcomes of severe viral infections in the neonatal period in both pigs and humans.
Keywords: Pseudorabies virus1, innate immunity2, neonates3, peripheral blood mononuclear cells4, plasmacytoid dendritic cells5, Interferon-α6, Th1 immunity7, immaturity8
Received: 19 Mar 2025; Accepted: 27 May 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Claeys, Brabant, Rosschaert, Van Waesberghe and Favoreel. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Herman W Favoreel, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
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