Pathogenesis of disease caused by Aleutian mink disease parvovirus

A review of the pathogenesis of Aleutian mink disease parvovirus (ADV) infection based on recent knowledge gained by the author and collaborators is given. The review focuses mainly on the following topics. 1) Development of an easy, sensitive and fast assay for detection of ADV antigens and antibodies directed against these antigens. A highly sensitive rocket line immunoelectrophoretic assay (RLIE) was developed. This assay turned out to be 32 times more sensitive than the counter current electrophoresis assay routinely used to detect anti-ADV antibodies in ADV eradication programs, and moreover, ADV associated antigens could simultaneously be quantitatively detected in the same electrophoretic run. Later, the assay was improved to make it more economical and easy to use and finally the assay, now termed the counter current line absorption immunoelectrophoresis (CCLAIE) assay, was slightly modified to adapt the test to screening programs. 2) Examination of surface properties of the virus and the antigens expressed during in vivo infection. In this chapter studies on the surface charge properties of ADV are described. Using charge-shift crossed immunoelectrophoresis the occurrence of amphiphilic proteins associated with ADV is shown and the significance of these findings in regard to biological properties are discussed. The first demonstration of intact ADV structural and nonstructural proteins in mink tissues is described and it is shown that the structural proteins of the cell culture adapted strain of ADV (ADV-G) also in vivo is 2-3000 dalton smaller than those of other ADVs, i.e. 75,000 and 85,000 dalton in ADV-G as opposed to 78,000 and 88,000 dalton in the other ADVs. 3) Studies on the pathogenesis of interstitial pneumonia caused by ADV in newborn mink kits. The features of ADV-induced interstitial pneumonia are described. Using Southern blot and in situ hybridization techniques it is shown that ADV replicates to high levels in alveolar type II cells and it is suggested that the permissive replication of the virus in these cells causes direct cytopathology, followed by decreased surfactant production and development of the characteristic clinical and pathological features of respiratory distress and hyaline membrane disease. 4) Comparison of the pathogenesis of acute versus chronic disease caused by ADV infection. The data obtained by in situ hybridization analysis of ADV infected adult mink, mink kits, and mink kits treated with anti-ADV antibodies are compared. The accumulated data suggested that the development of severe acute ADV-induced disease is linked to low or absent antibody titers paired with high levels of viral replication.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)