Infection of porcine small intestinal enteroids with human and pig rotavirus A strains reveals contrasting roles for histo-blood group antigens and terminal sialic acids

Abstract

Growing evidence suggests that host cellular glycans, such as histoblood group antigens (HBGAs) and sialic acids (SA), are recognized by the RV surface protein VP4. This detailed study established a porcine crypt-derived 3D intestinal enteroids (PIEs) culture system which contains all intestinal epithelial cells identified in vivo and represents a unique physiologically functional model to study RV-glycan interactions in vitro. Overall, results confirm that differential HBGAs-RV and SA-RV interactions determine replication efficacy of virulent group A RVs in PIEs. Consequently, targeting individual glycans for development of therapeutics may not yield uniform results for various RV strains.