Viral and cellular telomerase RNAs possess host-specific anti-apoptotic functions

Human telomerase RNA (hTR) is overexpressed in many cancers and protects T cells from apoptosis in a telomerase-independent manner. The most prevalent cancer in the animal kingdom is caused by the highly oncogenic herpesvirus Marek’s disease virus (MDV). MDV encodes a viral telomerase RNA (vTR) that plays a crucial role in MDV-induced tumorigenesis and shares all four conserved functional domains with hTR. In this study, we assessed whether hTR drives tumor formation in this natural model of herpesvirus-induced tumorigenesis. Therefore, we replaced vTR with hTR in the genome of a highly oncogenic MDV. Furthermore, we investigated the anti-apoptotic activity of vTR, hTR, and their counterpart in the chicken [chicken telomerase RNA (cTR)]. hTR was efficiently expressed and did not alter replication of the recombinant virus. Despite its conserved structure, hTR did not complement the loss of vTR in virus-induced tumorigenesis. Strikingly, hTR did not inhibit apoptosis in chicken cells, but efficiently inhibited apoptosis in human cells. Inverse host restriction has been observed for vTR and cTR in human cells. Our data revealed that vTR, cTR, and hTR possess conserved but host-specific anti-apoptotic functions that likely contribute to MDV-induced tumorigenesis

Atrophy of primary lymphoid organs induced by Marek's disease virus during early infection is associated with increased apoptosis, inhibition of cell proliferation and a severe B-lymphopenia

Marek's disease is a multi-faceted highly contagious disease affecting chickens caused by the Marek's disease alphaherpesvirus (MDV). MDV early infection induces a transient immunosuppression, which is associated with thymus and bursa of Fabricius atrophy. Little is known about the cellular processes involved in primary lymphoid organ atrophy. Here, by in situ TUNEL assay, we demonstrate that MDV infection results in a high level of apoptosis in the thymus and bursa of Fabricius, which is concomitant to the MDV lytic cycle. Interestingly, we observed that in the thymus most of the MDV infected cells at 6 days post-infection (dpi) were apoptotic, whereas in the bursa of Fabricius most of the apoptotic cells were uninfected suggesting that MDV triggers apoptosis by two different modes in these two primary lymphoid organs. In addition, a high decrease of cell proliferation was observed from 6 to 14 dpi in the bursa of Fabricius follicles, and not in the thymus. Finally, with an adapted absolute blood lymphocyte count, we demonstrate a major B-lymphopenia during the two 1st weeks of infection, and propose this method as a potent non-invasive tool to diagnose MDV bursa of Fabricius infection and atrophy. Our results demonstrate that the thymus and bursa of Fabricius atrophies are related to different cell mechanisms, with different temporalities, that affect infected and uninfected cells

ESCDL-1, a new cell line derived from chicken embryonic stem cells, supports efficient replication of Mardiviruses.

Marek's disease virus is the etiological agent of a major lymphoproliferative disorder in poultry and the prototype of the Mardivirus genus. Primary avian somatic cells are currently used for virus replication and vaccine production, but they are largely refractory to any genetic modification compatible with the preservation of intact viral susceptibility. We explored the concept of induction of viral replication permissiveness in an established pluripotent chicken embryonic stem cell-line (cES) in order to derive a new fully susceptible cell-line. Chicken ES cells were not permissive for Mardivirus infection, but as soon as differentiation was triggered, replication of Marek's disease virus was detected. From a panel of cyto-differentiating agents, hexamethylene bis (acetamide) (HMBA) was found to be the most efficient regarding the induction of permissiveness. These initial findings prompted us to analyse the effect of HMBA on gene expression, to derive a new mesenchymal cell line, the so-called ESCDL-1, and monitor its susceptibility for Mardivirus replication. All Mardiviruses tested so far replicated equally well on primary embryonic skin cells and on ESCDL-1, and the latter showed no variation related to its passage number in its permissiveness for virus infection. Viral morphogenesis studies confirmed efficient multiplication with, as in other in vitro models, no extra-cellular virus production. We could show that ESCDL-1 can be transfected to express a transgene and subsequently cloned without any loss in permissiveness. Consequently, ESCDL-1 was genetically modified to complement viral gene deletions thus yielding stable trans-complementing cell lines. We herein claim that derivation of stable differentiated cell-lines from cES cell lines might be an alternative solution to the cultivation of primary cells for virology studies

ESCDL-1 cells allow productive replication of vBAC20-UL17mRFP.

<p>ESCDL-1 cells allow productive replication of vBAC20-UL17mRFP.</p

Constitutive expression of pUL49 (VP22) in ESCDL-1 complements the deletion of UL49 in GaHV2 genome.

<p>(A & B) Constitutive expression of pUL49 (VP22) in uncloned cell populations (A) and in ESCDL-1-UL49/clone 2 (B). VP22 staining by anti pUL49 Mabs and an Alexa Fluor^® 488 goat anti-mouse detects filamentous material between 2 strongly positive nuclei that appear to be still bound after cell division (white arrowhead). (C to H) Complementation of replication for BAC20ΔUL49 on ESCDL-1-UL49/clone 7 (C, E, G) and absence of viral dissemination in non-complementing ESCDL-1 (D, F, H). Viral replication was detected using a chicken hyper immune serum revealed by an Alexa Fluor^® 488 goat anti-chicken conjugate together with an anti-ICP4 Mab (C, D), a mixture of anti-gI and -gE Mabs (E, F), or a mixture of anti-pUL49 (VP22) Mabs (G, H) all revealed by an Alexa Fluor^® 594 goat anti-mouse conjugate. The restoration of pUL49 (VP22) expression is associated with the viral replication (G). Early-late (ICP4) and late (gE-gI) antigens are detected in isolated ESCDL-1 cells (D & F) and in panel H the arrow points to an isolated cell in which vBAC20ΔUL49 undergoes an aborted replication cycle as revealed by the polyclonal anti-MDV serum without detection of VP22. Scale bar represents 50μm.</p

ESCDL-1 stably expressing the YGFP Venus support GaHV-2 replication.

<p>(A) Venus expression by ESCDL-1-Venus at passage 8 post selection initiation (scale bar indicates 100 μm). Venus YGFP is equally distributed in the nucleus and cytoplasm. (B) Comparison of plaque areas of vBAC20UL17mRFP between the parental cell line and the ESCDL-1-Venus/Clone7. The plaque areas of virus produced on ESCDL-1-Venus/Clone7 (green Tuckey box and whiskers plots) and on ESCDL-1 (shaded Tuckey box and whiskers plot) were measured for the parental and the Venus expressing cell-lines at matching passages (2 independent experiments). Differences existing between the cells or viruses were non significant (Mann-Whitney test with P values over 0.5). (C) vBACRB1BUL17mRFP plaques on ESCDL-1-Venus/Clone7: note the strong up-regulation of Venus expression in infected cells (scale bar indicates 200 μm).</p

Characterization of ESCDL-1.

<p>(A) ESCDL-1 cells (passage 52) display a mesenchyme cell morphology with numerous actin stress fibres (Alexa Fluor^® 594 phalloidin). Nuclei appear in blue due to Hoechst 33342 staining, mitochondria in green by staining with monoclonal antibody 4C7 and Alexa Fluor^® 488 anti-mouse IgG. (B) ESCDL-1 express vimentin as a major intermediate filament protein. Proteins were extracted from chicken keratinocyte line K8 (KcES) and ESCDL-1 and western blots were probed with anti-actin JLA-20, anti-vimentin AMF17b, or anti-cytokeratin type I or II antibodies. The apparent molecular masses of actin (45 kDa) and vimentin (55 kDa) are similar to those described in the publications describing the monoclonal antibodies. ESCDL-1 cells do not express type I or II cytokeratins, which are detected in KcES extracts. Molecular weight markers (PageRuler^™ Plus prestained protein ladder—Thermo Scientific) are on the left side of each blot.</p

Expression of pUL37 in ESCDL-1 complements the deletion of UL37 ORF in BACRB-1B.

<p>Upper panel (1–4): Transfection of BACRB-1BΔ37 yields viral plaques on complementing cells: viral plaques were detected in ESCDL-1-UL37 by staining with Mabs B17 (anti-VP22), K11 (anti-gB) and E21 (anti-ICP4) and an Alexa Fluor^® 488 GAM conjugate (1). In ESCDL-1, BACRB-1BΔ37 did not yield a virus that could disseminate and only isolated positive cells could be seen (2). As a control, BACRB-1BUL17mRFP was transfected in either complementing or non-complementing parental cells, producing viral plaques on both (3 & 4). Scale bar = 200 μm. Middle Panel (5 to 8): vBACRB-1BΔ37 can be serially passaged in complementing cells and virus multiplication induces pUL37 expression in the ESCDL-1-UL37: BACRB-1BΔ37 (5,6) or BAC RB-1B (7,8) were transfected either in ESCDL-1-UL37 complementing cells or in ESCDL-1 and passaged once in the same cells. The development of viral infection by passage 2 of the vBACRB-1BΔ37 virus is seen in complementing cells (green fluorescence in 5) and coincides with the expression of pUL37 in infected cells (red fluorescence in 5); in non-complementing cells the same virus passage does not replicate (6). The parental virus (vBACRB-1B) transfected and passaged in the same conditions replicated equally well on ESCDL-1 and on ESCDL-1-UL37 (7 & 8). Scale bar = 50μm. Lower Panel (9 to 12): vBACRB-1BΔ37 may be passaged at least 3 times in complementing cells and does not revert to a replicating virus when plated on non-complementing cells. The 3rd passage of vBACRB-1BΔ37 yielded typical viral plaques in complementing cells (9) whereas the same virus did not form plaques in ESCDL-1 (10). Again vRB-1B at the same passage developed equally well in both cells (staining as in the upper panel, except for HOECHST 33342). Scale bar = 200 μm.</p

Number and percentage of capsids in the different cell compartments.

<p>Number and percentage of capsids in the different cell compartments.</p

Differentiation increases permissiveness of cES to GaHV-2.

<p>(A & B): cES cells were plated and infected 6 days post plating in reduced serum conditions with sorted CESC infected with vBAC20GFPVP22. Cells were fixed after an incubation of 6 days at 37°C. (A) cell monolayers were maintained in WE medium containing 1% FBS and 1.5% CS. (B) DMSO (64 μM) was added from day 4 after plating and until the end of the culture (scale bar represents 200 μm). (C) cES cells (passage 36) were exposed to HMBA and infected with sorted vBAC20GFPVP22-infected cells. Expression of VP22 was detected by the GFP signal and ICP4 by staining with monoclonal antibody E21 (red); cell nuclei were stained by Hoechst 33342. At late stages of infection, ICP4 is detected both in the cytoplasm and nucleus in VP22 expressing cells. At early stages of infection, when VP22 is barely detectable in the cells surrounding the highly infected cell, ICP4 staining is predominantly nuclear (arrow heads) indicating spread of virus from the originally infected cell to the neighbouring cells (scale bar represents 20 μm). (D) Induction of differentiation by HMBA increases susceptibility of cES cells to GaHV-2 infection. Comparison of the plaque counts at 4 days pi either on cES cells or on primary CESC exposed to differentiating drugs (2 independent experiments sampling 10 replicates for each condition with cES and 4 replicates with CESC). (E) Comparison of plaque sizes on either cES exposed to HMBA differentiation or CESC. For both cell types, HMBA was added in the maintenance medium after the infection with sorted vBAC20EGFPVP22-infected cells. Plaques appeared larger in cES differentiated cells. Plaque sizes from 80 plaques per experiment are shown as boxplots and whiskers (Tukey) (in B, P<0.001; Mann Whitney test).</p