| dc.description.abstract | Torque-teno viruses (TTVs) are small ubiquitous non-enveloped single-stranded circular DNA viruses. Since their discovery in a post-transfusion hepatitis patient, they have been isolated in several vertebrate hosts with over 90% prevalence, including swine. They have been detected in the environment, water sources, human drugs, vaccine and blood product as contaminants. Intriguingly, the role of TTVs in human disease causation is still not fully understood. Several epidemiological studies have associated TTVs to human diseases, like cancers, hepatitis, and autoimmune diseases, but no clear link between infection and clinical disease has been demonstrated yet. In contrast, experimental studies done in pigs demonstrated that swine TTVs (TTSuVs) could an act as sole pathogens. Other studies also demonstrated that TTSuVs could exacerbate symptoms of other viral pathogens in coinfections. Here, we showed that TTSuV1 could be zoonotic, as we detected TTSuV1 DNA in human serum samples. We also showed that TTSuV1 could replicate in human immune cells, and consequently suppress their ability to respond to immune stimuli. Further in-vivo studies, to elucidate host immune regulation by TTSuVs, showed a delayed antibody response and minimal viremia. Also, we found that viral sensing could be limited to interferon-inducing sensors (DHX36), while upregulation of PD-1 could demonstrate how these viruses may establish chronic infections. In another study, we showed the use of our novel recombinant TTSuV1 culture system to study the synergistic interactions between TTSuV1 and porcine circovirus 1 (PCV1). When both viruses were cultured together in-vitro, their respective viral titers were increased, compared to the single virus infections. We also demonstrated that increased in-vitro replication of TTSuV1 could be relying on expression of PCV1 replicase. In addition, molecular mechanisms were used to explain this synergistic relationship; a strong promoter activity by the putative major promoter of TTSuV1 was shown to be blocked PCV1 and TTSuV1 replicase proteins, but protein-DNA interaction assays need further optimizations to demonstrate physical interaction between these viruses. In conclusion, our result showed new information about TTSuV1 transmission, pathogenesis, host innate immune regulation, and their role in coinfections. | en_US |
