Increased Ifng and Il10 Expression Correlate with Disease in Rodent Models Experimentally Infected with Modoc Virus

Tyler J Sherman; Douglas Petty; Tony Schountz; Natasha Hodges; Ann C Hawkinson

doi:10.3390/v14051026

Increased Ifng and Il10 Expression Correlate with Disease in Rodent Models Experimentally Infected with Modoc Virus

Viruses. 2022 May 11;14(5):1026. doi: 10.3390/v14051026.

Authors

Tyler J Sherman¹, Douglas Petty¹, Tony Schountz¹, Natasha Hodges¹, Ann C Hawkinson²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Pathology, College of Veterinary Medicine, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA.
² School of Biological Sciences, College of Natural and Health Sciences, University of Northern Colorado, Greeley, CO 80524, USA.

Abstract

Flaviviruses present an ongoing threat to global public health, although the factors that contribute to the disease remain incompletely understood. We examined an acute Modoc virus (MODV) infection of two rodent models. Viral RNA was detected in the kidneys, spleen, liver, brain, urine, and sera of experimentally infected deer mice, a reservoir host of MODV, and Syrian hamsters, a known disease model. As expected, clinical outcomes differed between species, and the levels of viral RNA recovered from various tissues demonstrated signs of differential replication and tissue tropism. Multivariate analysis indicated significance in the profile of expressed genes between species when analyzed across tissues and over time (p = 0.02). Between-subject effects with corrected models revealed a significance specific to the expression of Ifng (p = 0.01). the expression of Ifng was elevated in hamsters as compared to deer mice in brain tissues at all timepoints. As the over-expression of Ifng has been shown to correlate with decreased vascular integrity, the findings presented here offer a potential mechanism for viral dissemination into the CNS. The expression of IL10 also differed significantly between species at certain timepoints in brain tissues; however, it is uncertain how increased expression of this cytokine may influence the outcome of MODV-induced pathology.

Keywords: Mesocricetus; Peromyscus; flavivirus; gene expression; interferon-gamma; interleukin-10; rodent-borne virus.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Animals
Cricetinae
Flavivirus* / genetics
Interferon-gamma
Interleukin-10 / genetics
RNA, Viral / genetics
Rodentia*

Substances

RNA, Viral
Interleukin-10
Interferon-gamma

Supplementary concepts

Modoc virus

Grants and funding

This research was supported by internal grants acquired through the University of Northern Colorado. The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript, or in the decision to publish the results.