Abstract
Our previous study has demonstrated that porcine pulmonary microvascular endothelial cells (MVECs) are susceptible to highly pathogenic porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (HP-PRRSV). The innate immune response of MVECs infected with HP-PRRSV would play important roles in controlling virus proliferation, resisting cellular injury, and preventing the virus from spreading to other tissues and organs. Type I interferon is one of the most effective antiviral cytokines in the innate immune response, and interferon-induced proteins with tetratricopeptide repeats (IFITs) are members of interferon-stimulated genes induced by viruses and other pathogens, which are crucial in inhibiting virus proliferation and regulating the innate immune response. However, their effects on HP-PRRSV-induced innate immunity in porcine pulmonary MVECs remain unclear. Here, the roles of IFITs in porcine pulmonary MVECs infected with the HP-PRRSV HN strain were investigated, and the effects of astragalus polysaccharides (APS), a widely used traditional Chinese herbal ingredient with the immunopotentiating effect, on them were studied. The results showed that more autophagosomes were observed in HP-PRRSV-infected MVECs, and the expression of IFN-α, IFIT3, and IFIT5 decreased or increased at different time points after infection. When silencing the genes of IFIT3 or IFIT5, the HP-PRRSV replication in MVECs was significantly increased. The expression of IFIT3 and IFIT5 could be upregulated by APS, whose inhibitory effects on the HP-PRRSV replication significantly declined when the genes of IFIT3 or IFIT5 were silenced. The results suggest that IFIT3 and IFIT5 play an important role in inhibiting the HP-PRRSV replication in porcine pulmonary MVECs, and APS suppress the multiplication of HP-PRRSV by upregulating their expression.