Apoptotic response of chicken embryonic fibroblast cells to infectious bursal disease virus infections reflects viral pathogenicity

Infectious bursal disease virus (IBDV) induces immunodeficiency in young chickens and apoptosis in chicken embryos. To understand the relation between the viral pathogenesis and the induction of cell death, chicken embryonic fibroblast (CEF) cells were infected with IBDV intermediate (im) and very virulent (vv) strains at different MOIs. The cell viability and DNA fragmentation were evaluated in infected cells. The cellular apoptotic pathway involve was investigated by determining the activities of caspase cascade. The imIBDV strain was replicated well in CEF cells and shown higher viral titers than vvIBDV. Apoptosis changes were observed only in vvIBDV-infected CEF cells at higher MOI 48 h post infection. Efflux of cytochrome c suggests that the intrinsic pathway of the apoptotic process induced by vvIBDV infection independently of virus replication. Prediction of caspase substrates cleavage sites revealed that different IBDV strains have conserved cleavage motif pattern for VP2 and VP5 viral proteins. These findings suggest the pathogenicity of IBDV strains might be involved in the induction of apoptosis in host cells.