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. 2023 Jan 12;12(1):130.
doi: 10.3390/pathogens12010130.

Correlation between the Biodistribution of Bovine Leukemia Virus in the Organs and the Proviral Load in the Peripheral Blood during Early Stages of Experimentally Infected Cattle

Junko Kohara  1 , Lanlan Bai  2   3 , Shin-Nosuke Takeshima  2   4 , Yuki Matsumoto  2 , Tsunao Hirai  1 , Yoko Aida  2   5
Affiliations

Correlation between the Biodistribution of Bovine Leukemia Virus in the Organs and the Proviral Load in the Peripheral Blood during Early Stages of Experimentally Infected Cattle

Junko Kohara et al. Pathogens. .

Abstract

Bovine leukemia virus (BLV) is the etiological agent of enzootic bovine leukosis. However, the propagation and distribution of BLV after primary infection still need to be fully elucidated. Here, we experimentally infected seven cattle with BLV and analyzed the BLV proviral load (PVL) in the blood and various organs. BLV was first detected in the blood of the cattle after one week, and the blood PVL increased for three weeks after infection. The PVL was maintained at a high level in five cattle, while it decreased to a low or medium level in two cattle. BLV was distributed in various organs, such as the heart, lung, liver, kidney, abomasum, and thymus, and, notably, in the spleen and lymph nodes. In cattle with a high blood PVL, BLV was detected in organs other than the spleen and lymph nodes, whereas in those with a low blood PVL, BLV was only detected in the spleen and lymph nodes. The amount of BLV in the organs was comparable to that in the blood. Our findings point to the possibility of estimating the distribution of BLV provirus in organs, lymph nodes, and body fluids by measuring the blood PVL, as it was positively correlated with the biodistribution of BLV provirus in the body of BLV infection during early stages.

Keywords: BLV-CoCoMo-qPCR-2; biodistribution; bovine leukemia virus; experimentally infected cattle; organ; peripheral blood; proviral load.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Changes in the BLV proviral load in blood of the experimentally infected cattle. ●: animal #A ▲: animal #B, ■: animal #C, ◆: animal #D, ○: animal #E, △: animal #F, □: animal #G.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Correlation between the blood PVL and that in all examined organs, including the heart, lung, liver, kidney, abomasum, thymus, spleen, and lymph nodes. The BLV PVL (expressed as the number of copies of proviral load per 105 cells) in organs and peripheral blood of the experimentally infected cattle was evaluated using CoCoMo-qPCR-2.
Figure 3
Figure 3
BLV proviral load in the blood, spleen, and lymph nodes. Data are expressed as means from three independent experiments (* p < 0.05, ** p < 0.01, and *** p < 0.001). MbLN; mandibular lymph node, SCLN; superficial cervical lymph node, SLN; subiliac lymph node, MLN; and mesenteric lymph node.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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