ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Microbiol.
Sec. Virology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2025.1684847
PEDV and BVDV coinfection activates the NF-κB pathway by a TLR7-dependent mechanism
Provisionally accepted
- Shanghai Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Shanghai, China
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In recent years, coinfections of porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) with other enteric viruses have become common in diarrheal piglets. Insights into the interplay between pathogen–pathogen or pathogen–host interactions remain to be elucidated. In this study, an in vitro coinfection test of bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV) and PEDV was carried out to explore the effects of coinfection on PEDV replication and cellular immune response. We found that after preinfection with BVDV, PEDV replicates faster and more easily in PK15 cells. We then extended these findings and showed that PEDV and BVDV coinfection strongly induced NF-κB activity, causing more NF-κB p65 translocation from the cytoplasm to the nucleus. Furthermore, we demonstrated that TLR7 serves as a critical pattern recognition receptor for PEDV and BVDV coinfection and that it mediates NF-κB activation and promotes the expression of inflammatory cytokines in cells. Collectively, these findings reveal that the synergistic effects of these two pathogens during coinfection may strongly activate the host immune system and enhance virus replication.
Keywords: Coinfection, NF-κB pathway, Toll-like receptor, Virus Replication, immune response
Received: 13 Aug 2025; Accepted: 10 Oct 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Cheng, Li, Tao, Shi and Liu. 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: Huili Liu, huilil@163.com
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