Porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) is a highly virulent re-emerging enteric coronavirus that causes acute diarrhea, dehydration, and up to 100% mortality in neonatal suckling piglets. Despite this, a safe and effective PEDV vaccine against highly virulent strains is unavailable, making PEDV prevention and control challenging. Lactogenic immunity induced via the gut-mammary gland-secretory IgA (sIgA) axis, remains the most promising and effective way to protect suckling piglets from PEDV. Therefore, a successful PEDV vaccine must induce protective maternal IgA antibodies that passively transfer into colostrum and milk. Identifying variables that influence lymphocyte migration and IgA secretion during gestation and lactation is imperative for designing maternal immunization strategies that generate the highest amount of lactogenic immune protection against PEDV in suckling piglets. Because pregnancy-associated immune alterations influence viral pathogenesis and adaptive immune responses in many different species, a better understanding of host immune responses to PEDV in pregnant swine may translate into improved maternal immunization strategies against enteric pathogens for multiple species. In this review, we discuss the role of host factors during pregnancy on antiviral immunity and their implications for generating protective lactogenic immunity in suckling neonates.Pathogens 2020, 9, 130 2 of 21 PEDV [2]. The increased rates of protection were associated with high titers of sIgA antibodies in colostrum and milk [2]. This demonstrates that protecting suckling piglets from devastating enteric viral pathogens is dependent on efficient trafficking of intestinal IgA + plasmablasts to the mammary gland (MG) and accumulation of sIgA antibodies in milk, defined as the gut-MG-sIgA axis [2,3]. While it is known that the migration of IgA + plasmablasts to the MG depends on the regulation of mucosal homing receptor and chemokine expression, the mechanisms that regulate this process are much less understood. Identifying variables that influence lymphocyte migration during gestation and lactation is imperative for designing maternal immunization strategies that generate the highest amount of lactogenic immune protection against PEDV in suckling piglets. In this review, we will discuss the role of host factors during pregnancy on antiviral immunity and its implications for generating protective lactogenic immunity against PEDV infection in neonatal suckling piglets.
PEDV: A Re-Emerging Enteric CoronavirusPEDV is a highly virulent re-emerging enteric coronavirus belonging to the Alphacoronavirus genus within the family of Coronaviridae. Currently, there are four genera, including Alphacoronavirus, Betacoronavirus, Gammacoronavirus, and Deltacoronavirus, within the Coronaviridae family. Other alphacoronaviruses include transmissible gastroenteritis virus (TGEV) in swine, feline coronaviruses (FCoV), canine coronaviruses (CCoV), ferret enteric coronavirus (FRECV) and two human coronaviruses NL63 and 229E. Additionally, five...