Pigs can retain antibody traces of past viral encounters, yet conventional tests usually examine only a limited number of viruses at a time. In a study published in Virologica Sinica, researchers at Huazhong Agricultural University developed SwiVirScan, a platform that uses 36,416 short protein fragments from 140 swine-associated viruses to screen many antibody responses in parallel.
The team first screened 140 field serum samples from adult breeding pigs and analyzed 127 that met the sequencing-depth requirement. Every included sample reacted to peptides assigned to multiple viruses. The antibody signals included peptides from viruses with documented relevance to infections in both pigs and humans, such as influenza A virus and hepatitis E virus. These results reflect antibody recognition; they do not establish that the animals had active infections when sampled or that transmission to people occurred.
The researchers then looked for viral antibody signals that appeared together more often than expected. An association between porcine bufavirus and porcine circovirus 3 persisted after adjustment for multiple comparisons and a check for potentially cross-reactive peptides. Follow-up studies are needed to determine why these signals are associated.
“By looking at many antibody responses together, we can identify patterns that merit closer investigation with virus-specific tests,” says corresponding author Pan Tao. “SwiVirScan may help researchers prioritize viral targets for focused surveillance and further study in broader pig populations.”
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