Establishment and Characterization of a High and Stable Porcine CD163-Expressing MARC-145 Cell Line

Abstract EN

Isolation and identification of diverse porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome viruses (PRRSVs) play a fundamental role in PRRSV research and disease management.

However, PRRSV has a restricted cell tropism for infection.

MARC-145 cells are routinely used for North American genotype PRRSV isolation and vaccine production.

But MARC-145 cells have some limitations such as low virus yield.

CD163 is a cellular receptor that mediates productive infection of PRRSV in various nonpermissive cell lines.

In this study, we established a high and stable porcine CD163- (pCD163-) expressing MARC-145 cell line toward increasing its susceptibility to PRRSV infection.

Indirect immunofluorescence assay (IFA) and Western blotting assays showed that pCD163 was expressed higher in pCD163-MARC cell line than MARC-145 cells.

Furthermore, the ability of pCD163-MARC cell line to propagate PRRSV was significantly increased as compared with MARC-145 cells.

Finally, we found that pCD163-MARC cell line had a higher isolation rate of clinical PRRSV samples and propagated live attenuated PRRS vaccine strains more efficiently than MARC-145 cells.

This pCD163-MARC cell line will be a valuable tool for propagation and research of PRRSV.