tetano
Editor, Senior Moderator
Emerg Microbes Infect
. 2020 Oct 2;1-24.
doi: 10.1080/22221751.2020.1831405. Online ahead of print.
Susceptibility of swine cells and domestic pigs to SARS-CoV-2
David A Meekins[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Igor Morozov[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Jessie D Trujillo[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Natasha N Gaudreault[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Dashzeveg Bold[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Mariano Carossino[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Bianca L Artiaga[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Sabarish V Indran[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Taeyong Kwon[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Velmurugan Balaraman[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Daniel W Madden[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Heinz Feldmann[SUP] 3 [/SUP], Jamie Henningson[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Wenjun Ma[SUP] 1 4 [/SUP], Udeni B R Balasuriya[SUP] 2 [/SUP], And Juergen A Richt[SUP] 1 [/SUP]
Affiliations
Abstract
The emergence of SARS-CoV-2 has resulted in an ongoing global pandemic with significant morbidity, mortality, and economic consequences. The susceptibility of different animal species to SARS-CoV-2 is of concern due to the potential for interspecies transmission, and the requirement for pre-clinical animal models to develop effective countermeasures. In the current study, we determined the ability of SARS-CoV-2 to (i) replicate in porcine cell lines, (ii) establish infection in domestic pigs via experimental oral/intranasal/intratracheal inoculation, and (iii) transmit to co-housed naive sentinel pigs. SARS-CoV-2 was able to replicate in two different porcine cell lines with cytopathic effects. Interestingly, none of the SARS-CoV-2-inoculated pigs showed evidence of clinical signs, viral replication or SARS-CoV-2-specific antibody responses. Moreover, none of the sentinel pigs displayed markers of SARS-CoV-2 infection. These data indicate that although different porcine cell lines are permissive to SARS-CoV-2, five-week old pigs are not susceptible to infection via oral/intranasal/intratracheal challenge. Pigs are therefore unlikely to be significant carriers of SARS-CoV-2 and are not a suitable pre-clinical animal model to study SARS-CoV-2 pathogenesis or efficacy of respective vaccines or therapeutics.
Keywords: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; coronavirus; infection models; pigs; swine; zoonotic disease.
. 2020 Oct 2;1-24.
doi: 10.1080/22221751.2020.1831405. Online ahead of print.
Susceptibility of swine cells and domestic pigs to SARS-CoV-2
David A Meekins[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Igor Morozov[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Jessie D Trujillo[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Natasha N Gaudreault[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Dashzeveg Bold[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Mariano Carossino[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Bianca L Artiaga[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Sabarish V Indran[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Taeyong Kwon[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Velmurugan Balaraman[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Daniel W Madden[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Heinz Feldmann[SUP] 3 [/SUP], Jamie Henningson[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Wenjun Ma[SUP] 1 4 [/SUP], Udeni B R Balasuriya[SUP] 2 [/SUP], And Juergen A Richt[SUP] 1 [/SUP]
Affiliations
- PMID: 33003988
- DOI: 10.1080/22221751.2020.1831405
Abstract
The emergence of SARS-CoV-2 has resulted in an ongoing global pandemic with significant morbidity, mortality, and economic consequences. The susceptibility of different animal species to SARS-CoV-2 is of concern due to the potential for interspecies transmission, and the requirement for pre-clinical animal models to develop effective countermeasures. In the current study, we determined the ability of SARS-CoV-2 to (i) replicate in porcine cell lines, (ii) establish infection in domestic pigs via experimental oral/intranasal/intratracheal inoculation, and (iii) transmit to co-housed naive sentinel pigs. SARS-CoV-2 was able to replicate in two different porcine cell lines with cytopathic effects. Interestingly, none of the SARS-CoV-2-inoculated pigs showed evidence of clinical signs, viral replication or SARS-CoV-2-specific antibody responses. Moreover, none of the sentinel pigs displayed markers of SARS-CoV-2 infection. These data indicate that although different porcine cell lines are permissive to SARS-CoV-2, five-week old pigs are not susceptible to infection via oral/intranasal/intratracheal challenge. Pigs are therefore unlikely to be significant carriers of SARS-CoV-2 and are not a suitable pre-clinical animal model to study SARS-CoV-2 pathogenesis or efficacy of respective vaccines or therapeutics.
Keywords: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; coronavirus; infection models; pigs; swine; zoonotic disease.