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Transmission of Porcine Circovirus 3 (PCV3) by Xenotransplantation of Pig Hearts into Baboons

2019; Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute; Volume: 11; Issue: 7 Linguagem: Inglês

10.3390/v11070650

1999-4915

Luise Krüger, Matthias Längin, Bruno Reichart, Uwe Fiebig, Yannick Kristiansen, Carolin Prinz, Barbara Keßler, Stefanie Egerer, Eckhard Wolf, Jan‐Michael Abicht, Joachim Denner,

Viral gastroenteritis research and epidemiology

Porcine circovirus 3 (PCV3) is a newly described member of the virus family Circoviridae. PCV3 is highly distributed among pigs and wild boars worldwide. A sudden introduction of PCV3 was recently observed in a herd of triple genetically modified pigs generated for xenotransplantation. These animals were used as donor pigs for orthotopic heart transplantation into baboons. In four cases, PCV3-positive hearts were transplanted, and transmission of PCV3 to the recipient was observed. PCV3 was found in all organs of the recipient baboons and a higher virus load was found in animals with a longer survival time of the transplant, indicating replication of the virus. This is the first report showing trans-species transmission of PCV3 to baboons by transplantation of a heart from a PCV3-positive donor pig. Sequence analysis showed that PCV3a and PCV3b were present in the infected pigs and were transmitted. Experiments to infect human 293 cells with PCV3 failed.