Potential Role of Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome Virus Structural Protein GP2 in Apoptosis Inhibition

Abstract EN

Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) is a serious threat to the pork industry, and its pathogenesis needs further investigations.

To study the role of two structural proteins of PRRSV in virus-host cells interactions, two stable cell lines (MARC-2a and MARC-N) expressing GP2 and N proteins, respectively, were established.

We induced apoptosis in these cells by treating them with staurosporine and found a significant reduction in the number of apoptotic cells in MARC-2a as compared to MARC-N and MARC-145 cells.

In addition, we found significantly higher activities of transcriptional factors (NF-κB and AP-1) in both cell lines as compared to MARC-145 (parent cells).

Overall, our data suggest that, although both stable cell lines activate NF-κB and AP-1, GP2 triggers the antiapoptotic process through an intermediate step that needs to be further investigated.