Equine PBMC phenotyping during equine pegivirus infection

One horse each was transfected by intrasplenic injection with clonal viral genomic RNA of Equine pegivirus-1 (EPgV1, aka pegivirus E) or Equine Pegivirus-2 (EPgV2, aka Pegivirus D, Theiler's disease associated virus). Each horse had peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) collected and phenotyped by flow cytometry every 2 weeks for 26 weeks to monitor immune response to infection. Conclusion: No clear response in major PBMC subpopulations was observed in either horse. Horses did not clear the pegivirus infections within the 26 weeks of observation. It is possible that a response might have been observed around the time of viral clearance, and/or with finer detail of subpopulations or assessments for pegiviral-specific T cells (e.g. via ELISPOT). Compensation beads were used for automated compensation. Flow cytometry panels were adapted from a previously validated panel: Tomlinson et al 2018 DOI: 10.1016/j.vetimm.2018.03.010.