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J Gen Virol 88 (2007), 1922-1927; DOI 10.1099/vir.0.82833-0

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Short Communication

Infection with recombinant orf viruses demonstrates that the viral interleukin-10 is a virulence factor

Stephen B. Fleming1, Ian E. Anderson2, Jackie Thomson2, David L. Deane2, Colin J. McInnes2, Catherine A. McCaughan1, Andrew A. Mercer1 and David M. Haig2

1 Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand
2 Moredun Research Institute, Pentlands Science Park, Bush Loan, Penicuik EH26 0PZ, UK

Correspondence
David M. Haig
david.haig{at}moredun.ac.uk

Orf virus is the prototype parapoxvirus that causes the contagious skin disease orf. It encodes an orthologue of the cytokine interleukin (IL)-10. Recombinant orf viruses were constructed in which the viral interleukin-10 (vorfIL-10) was disabled (vorfIL-10ko) and reinserted (vorfrevIL-10) at the same locus and compared to wild-type virus for their ability to induce skin lesions in sheep. After either primary infection or reinfection, smaller less severe lesions were recorded in the vorfIL-10ko-infected animals compared with either of the vorfIL-10-intact virus-infected animals. Thus, the vorfIL-10ko virus was attenuated compared with the vorfIL-10 intact viruses, demonstrating that orf virus IL-10 is a virulence factor. The virus IL-10 is one of several virulence or immuno-modulatory factors expressed by orf virus. Removal of any one of these genes would be expected to have only a partial effect on virulence, which is what was observed in this study with vorfIL-10.

A supplementary figure is available with the online version of this paper.






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