Bovine Herpesvirus 1 Can Infect CD4⁺ T Lymphocytes and Induce Programmed Cell Death during Acute Infection of Cattle

Authors

M. T. C. Winkler, University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Alan R. Doster, University of Nebraska - LincolnFollow
Clinton J. Jones, University of Nebraska - LincolnFollow

Date of this Version

October 1999

Comments

Published in JOURNAL OF VIROLOGY, Oct. 1999, p. 8657–8668 Vol. 73, No. 10. Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. Used by permission.

Abstract

Acute infection of cattle with bovine herpesvirus 1 (BHV-1) represses cell-mediated immunity, which can lead to secondary bacterial infections. Since BHV-1 can induce apoptosis of cultured lymphocytes, we hypothesized that these virus-host interactions occur in cattle. To test this hypothesis, we analyzed lymph nodes and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) after calves were infected with BHV-1. In situ terminal deoxynucleotidyltransferase- mediated dUTP nick end-labeling (TUNEL) staining of lymphoid tissues (pharyngeal tonsil, cervical, retropharyngeal, and inguinal) was used to detect apoptotic cells. Calves infected with BHV-1 for 7 days revealed increased apoptotic cells near the corticomedullary junction in lymphoid follicles and in the subcapsular region. Increased frequency of apoptotic cells was also observed in the mucosaassociated lymphoid tissue lining the trachea and turbinate. Immunohistochemistry of consecutive sections from pharyngeal tonsil revealed that CD2⁺ T lymphocytes were positive for the BHV-1 envelope glycoprotein gD. The location of these CD2⁺ T lymphocytes in the germinal center suggested that they were CD4⁺ T cells. Electron microscopy and TUNEL also revealed apoptotic and herpesvirus-infected lymphocytes from this area. Fluorescence-activated cell sorting analyses demonstrated that CD4⁺ and CD8⁺ T cells decreased in lymph nodes and PBMC after infection. The decrease in CD4⁺ T cells correlated with an increase in apoptosis. CD4⁺ but not CD8⁺ lymphocytes were infected by BHV-1 as judged by in situ hybridization and PCR, respectively. Immediate-early (bovine ICP0) and early (ribonucleotide reductase) transcripts were detected in PBMC and CD4⁺ lymphocytes prepared from infected calves. In contrast, a late transcript (glycoprotein C) was not consistently detected suggesting productive infection was not efficient. Taken together, these results indicate that BHV-1 can infect CD4⁺ T cells in cattle, leading to apoptosis and suppression of cell-mediated immunity.