The αvβ6 integrin receptor for Foot-and-mouth disease virus is expressed constitutively on the epithelial cells targeted in cattle

• Published in: Journal of general virology 2005-10, Vol.86 (10), p.2769-2780
• Main Authors: MONAGHAN, Paul, GOLD, Sarah, SIMPSON, Jennifer, ZHIDONG ZHANG, WEINREB, Paul H, VIOLETTE, Shelia M, ALEXANDERSEN, Soren, JACKSON, Terry
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Biological and medical sciences; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Microbiology; Miscellaneous; Virology
• ISSN: 0022-1317; 1465-2099
• DOI: 10.1099/vir.0.81172-0

Field strains of Foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) use a number of α v-integrins as receptors to initiate infection on cultured cells, and integrins are believed to be the receptors used to target epithelial cells in animals. In this study, immunofluorescence confocal microscopy and real-time RT-PCR were used to investigate expression of two of the integrin receptors of FMDV, α v β 6 and α v β 3, within various epithelia targeted by this virus in cattle. These studies show that α v β 6 is expressed constitutively on the surfaces of epithelial cells at sites where infectious lesions occur during a natural infection, but not at sites where lesions are not normally formed. Expression of α v β 6 protein at these sites showed a good correlation with the relative abundance of β 6 mRNA. In contrast, α v β 3 protein was only detected at low levels on the vasculature and not on the epithelial cells of any of the tissues investigated. Together, these data suggest that in cattle, α v β 6, rather than α v β 3, serves as the major receptor that determines the tropism of FMDV for the epithelia normally targeted by this virus.