Inability of FMDV replication in equine kidney epithelial cells is independent of integrin αvβ3 and αvβ6.

The research explores why horses appear to be impervious to foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV), finding that the failure of the virus to replicate in horse kidney cells is not due to the interaction with specific integrin receptors.

Introduction to the Study

• The research focuses on understanding why horses remain unaffected by the foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV). The virus is known to affect the epithelium and uses integrins as receptors.
• The study aimed to determine if the resistance in horses was due to the virus’s inability to utilize horse integrin receptors to attach to kidney epithelial cells.

Methodology

• The research compared the performance of two types of integrin receptors (αvβ3 and αvβ6) in horse and cow kidney epithelial cells.
• In order to examine the effect of these integrins, the subunits αv, β3, and β6 from bovine and equine were cloned and vectors were then injected into SW480 cells and COS-1 cells. Virus titers were then used to evaluate the level of viral replication.

Findings

• The study results showed that the FMDV was able to successfully reproduce in the SW480 cells with the horse β3/β6 subunits and in the COS-1 cells with the horse αvβ3/αvβ6 integrins.
• However, in EKECs (Equine Kidney Epithelial Cells), the virus was not capable of reproducing. This suggests that the absence of FMDV replication in horse kidney cells was not due to the interaction with the integrin receptors.

Conclusions

• This study helped to ascertain that the immunity of horses to FMD virus is not due to the virus’s failure to interact with horse integrin receptors.
• Therefore, the exact mechanism behind the horse’s resistance to FMDV still remains unclear and calls for more research.