Impact of a new porcine circovirus (PCV3) infection: diagnostic tools development and disease association

• Grant number: 17/26649-4
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Post-doctor
• Effective date (Start): March 01, 2018
• Effective date (End): October 12, 2018
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Veterinary Medicine - Preventive Veterinary Medicine
• Principal Investigator: João Pessoa Araújo Junior
• Grantee: Taís Fukuta da Cruz
• Supervisor: Joaquim Segalés
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biociências (IBB). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Botucatu. Botucatu , SP, Brazil
• Research place: Centre de Recerca en Sanitat Animal (CReSA), Spain
• Associated to the scholarship: 16/09518-0 - Study of differential gene expression induced by Porcine Circovirus type 2 in swine testicle cells and piglets experimentally infected, BP.PD

Abstract

In 2016, a new virus from the Circoviridae family named Porcine circovirus 3 (PCV3) was firstly described. Presently, PCV3 has been reported in the North America, Asia, Europe and also in Brazil. This emergent virus has been associated to different reproductive pathologies, as well as respiratory and systemic conditions so far. It has also been found in healthy animals, so, it is very likely that this is an ubiquitous virus, similar that other circoviruses. Especifically, it is important to determine is this novel virus behaves similarly to what happened with Porcine circovirus 2 (PCV2), another circovirus from this family, which caused enormous consequences for pig health. Therefore, it is necessary and strategic to evaluate the impact of PCV3. To achieve this goal, the development of diagnostic tools useful to study the pathogenicity, infection, transmission and excretion dynamics of PCV3 on farms with different pathologies will be planned. Among the tools to be developed, the generation of monoclonal antibodies against the virus will allow the set-up of immunohistochemistry techniques to make it possibe to localize the virus in specific lesions in animals suffering from different conditions. The set-up of a quantitative PCR is essential to unravel the viral load, to establish if it determines the curse of infection, as it has been reported for PCV2, and the specific implications of subclinical infection. With this project, PCV3 epidemiological surveillance and evaluation of its consequences to the swine sector will be done. Moreover, these studies will allow the assessment of the association with other diseases and/or co-infections with other relevant pathogens. The development of tools to isolate the virus will be useful to study the immunopathology of the virus, and evaluate a potential vaccine prototype. The sequencing of different isolates in the retrospective and longitudinal studies proposed in this project will make it possible to establish the presence of different genotypes, which is relevant due to the association reported for PCV2 on the increased pathogenicity of the virus with a genotype change seen on the farm. Besides, because of the high genetic variability of porcine circoviruses, the evolution of PCV3 will also be analyzed in longitudinal studies to evaluate the possible role of the virus in immune escape. All these studies will be crucial to deeply characterize the PCV3, its pathogenicity and impact on swine production, while helping to set the bases to control infection. (AU)

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

SAPORITI, VIVIANE; CRUZ, TAIS F.; CORREA-FIZ, FLORENCIA; NUNEZ, JOSE I.; SIBILA, MARINA; SEGALES, JOAQUIM. Similar frequency of Porcine circovirus 3 (PCV-3) detection in serum samples of pigs affected by digestive or respiratory disorders and age-matched clinically healthy pigs. TRANSBOUNDARY AND EMERGING DISEASES, v. 67, n. 1, SEP 2019. (17/26649-4)

SAPORITI, VIVIANE; MARTORELL, SUSANNA; CRUZ, TAIS F.; KLAUMANN, FRANCINI; CORREA-FIZ, FLORENCIA; BALASCH, MONICA; SIBILA, MARINA; SEGALES, JOAQUIM. Frequency of Detection and Phylogenetic Analysis of Porcine circovirus 3 (PCV-3) in Healthy Primiparous and Multiparous Sows and Their Mummified Fetuses and Stillborn. PATHOGENS, v. 9, n. 7, JUL 2020. (17/26649-4)