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Updated: Aug 11, 2026
An Ex Vivo Chicken Primary Bursal-cell Culture Model to Study Infectious Bursal Disease Virus Pathogenesis
Published on: October 4, 2018
Some characteristics of a cellular receptor for virulent infectious bursal disease virus by using flow cytometry
M Ogawa1, T Yamaguchi, A Setiyono
1Department of Veterinary Microbiology, Faculty of Agriculture, Gifu University, Japan.
Insights
Infectious bursal disease virus (IBDV) primarily binds to B lymphocytes expressing surface immunoglobulin M (SIgM). This binding is mediated by an N-glycosylated protein receptor on the host cells.
Area of Science:
- Veterinary Virology
- Immunology
- Cell Biology
Background:
- Infectious bursal disease virus (IBDV) causes significant disease in poultry.
- Understanding IBDV tropism is crucial for disease control.
- Previous studies on IBDV cell tropism have been limited.
Purpose of the Study:
- To establish a direct virus binding assay for IBDV.
- To identify the specific cell types and receptors involved in IBDV binding.
- To investigate the factors influencing IBDV host range.
Main Methods:
- Development of a flow cytometric virus binding assay.
- Utilized chicken B and T lymphoblastoid cell lines (LSCC-BK3, LSCC-1104-B1).
- Tested binding on heterogeneous chicken lymphocyte populations from various organs (bursa, spleen, thymus, blood).
Main Results:
- IBDV showed high binding to permissive LSCC-BK3 cells and low binding to nonpermissive LSCC-1104-B1 cells.
- Significant IBDV binding occurred in lymphocytes from the bursa of Fabricius (94%) and spleen (37%).
- Binding was predominantly on surface immunoglobulin M (SIgM)-positive B cells, and affected by proteases and N-glycosylation inhibitors.
Conclusions:
- A novel flow cytometric assay effectively visualizes IBDV binding.
- IBDV tropism is primarily determined by SIgM-positive B lymphocytes.
- A virus receptor composed of N-glycosylated protein on B-lymphocytes controls IBDV host range.
Abstract:
A flow cytometric virus binding assay that directly visualizes the binding of infectious bursal disease virus (IBDV) to its target cells was established. The chicken B lymphoblastoid cell line, LSCC-BK3, which is permissive for IBDV infection, bound high levels of the virus. Another B lymphoblastoid cell line, LSCC-1104-B1, bound low levels of the virus, although it was nonpermissive. No virus binding was detected in nonpermissive T lymphoblastoid cell lines. In the binding assay to heterogeneous cell populations of chicken lymphocytes, IBDV (a highly virulent OKYM strain) bound to 94% cells in the lymphocytes prepared from the bursa of Fabricius, 37% cells in those prepared from the spleen, 3% cells in those prepared from the thymus, and 21% cells in those prepared from the blood. Most of the cells, which bound the virus, were surface immunoglobulin M (SIgM)-positive, but a small number of them were SIgM-negative. Additionally, the binding of IBDV to the LSCC-BK3 cells was affected by treatment of the cells with proteases and N-glycosylation inhibitors. These findings may indicate that the IBDV host range is mainly controlled by the presence of a virus receptor composed of N-glycosylated protein associated with the subtle differentiation stage of B-lymphocytes represented mostly by SIgM-bearing cells.
