TY - JOUR
T1 - Rescue and in vitro characterization of a divergent TBEV-Eu strain from the Netherlands
AU - Hoornweg, Tabitha E.
AU - Godeke, Gert Jan
AU - Hoogerwerf, Marieke N.
AU - van Kasteren, Puck B.
AU - de Vries, Ankje
AU - Sprong, Hein
AU - Verjans, Georges M.G.M.
AU - van Riel, Debby
AU - Reimerink, Johan H.J.
AU - Rockx, Barry
AU - Reusken, Chantal B.E.M.
N1 - Funding Information:
We would like the members of the MDx pool at the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment in Bilthoven, the Netherlands, for their excellent technical assistance.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2023, The Author(s).
PY - 2023/2/18
Y1 - 2023/2/18
N2 - Tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV) may cause tick-borne encephalitis (TBE), a potential life-threatening infection of the central nervous system in humans. Phylogenetically, TBEVs can be subdivided into three main subtypes, which differ in endemic region and pathogenic potential. In 2016, TBEV was first detected in the Netherlands. One of two detected strains, referred to as Salland, belonged to the TBEV-Eu subtype, yet diverged ≥ 2% on amino acid level from other members of this subtype. Here, we report the successful rescue of this strain using infectious subgenomic amplicons and its subsequent in vitro characterization by comparison to two well-characterized TBEV-Eu strains; Neudoerfl and Hypr. In the human alveolar epithelial cell line A549, growth kinetics of Salland were comparable to the high pathogenicity TBEV-Eu strain Hypr, and both strains grew considerably faster than the mildly pathogenic strain Neudoerfl. In the human neuroblastoma cell line SK-N-SH, Salland replicated faster and to higher infectious titers than both reference strains. All three TBEV strains infected primary human monocyte-derived dendritic cells to a similar extent and interacted with the type I interferon system in a similar manner. The current study serves as the first in vitro characterization of the novel, divergent TBEV-Eu strain Salland.
AB - Tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV) may cause tick-borne encephalitis (TBE), a potential life-threatening infection of the central nervous system in humans. Phylogenetically, TBEVs can be subdivided into three main subtypes, which differ in endemic region and pathogenic potential. In 2016, TBEV was first detected in the Netherlands. One of two detected strains, referred to as Salland, belonged to the TBEV-Eu subtype, yet diverged ≥ 2% on amino acid level from other members of this subtype. Here, we report the successful rescue of this strain using infectious subgenomic amplicons and its subsequent in vitro characterization by comparison to two well-characterized TBEV-Eu strains; Neudoerfl and Hypr. In the human alveolar epithelial cell line A549, growth kinetics of Salland were comparable to the high pathogenicity TBEV-Eu strain Hypr, and both strains grew considerably faster than the mildly pathogenic strain Neudoerfl. In the human neuroblastoma cell line SK-N-SH, Salland replicated faster and to higher infectious titers than both reference strains. All three TBEV strains infected primary human monocyte-derived dendritic cells to a similar extent and interacted with the type I interferon system in a similar manner. The current study serves as the first in vitro characterization of the novel, divergent TBEV-Eu strain Salland.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85148347268&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1038/s41598-023-29075-0
DO - 10.1038/s41598-023-29075-0
M3 - Article
C2 - 36807371
AN - SCOPUS:85148347268
SN - 2045-2322
VL - 13
JO - Scientific Reports
JF - Scientific Reports
IS - 1
M1 - 2872
ER -