The lack of optimal porcine cell lines has severely impeded the study and progress in elucidation of porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) pathogenesis. Vero cell, an African green monkey kidney cell line, was often used to isolate and propagate PEDV. Nonetheless, the target cells of PEDV in vivo are intestinal epithelial cells, during infection, intestinal epithelia would be damaged and resulted in digestive disorders. The immune functions of porcine epithelial cells and interactions with other immune cell populations display a number of differences compared to other species. Type I interferon (IFN) plays an important role in antiviral immune response. Limited reports showed that PEDV could inhibit type I interferon production. In this study, porcine small intestinal epithelial cells (IECs), the target cells of PEDV, were used as the infection model in vitro to identify the possible molecular mechanisms of PEDV-inhibition IFN-β production.

Taken together, our data demonstrated for the first time that PEDV infection of its target cell line, IECs, inhibited dsRNA-mediated IFN-β production by blocking the activation of IPS-1 in RIG-I-mediated pathway. Our studies offered new visions in understanding of the interaction between PEDV and host innate immune system.

PEDV not only failed to induce IFN-β expression, but also inhibited dsRNA-mediated IFN-β production in IECs. As the key IFN-β transcription factors, we found that dsRNA-induced activation of IFN regulatory factor 3 (IRF-3) was inhibited after PEDV infection, but not nuclear factor-kappaB (NF-κB). To identify the mechanism of PEDV intervention with dsRNA-mediated IFN-β expression more accurately, the role of individual molecules of RIG-I signaling pathway were investigated. In the upstream of IRF-3, TANK-binding kinase 1 (TBK1)-or inhibitor of κB kinase-ε (IKKε)-mediated IFN-β production was not blocked by PEDV, while RIG-I-and its adapter molecule IFN-β promoter stimulator 1 (IPS-1)-mediated IFN-β production were completely inhibited after PEDV infection.