Use of a Multiplex RT-PCR Assay for Simultaneous Detection of the North American Genotype Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome Virus,Swine Influenza Virus and Japanese Encephalitis Virus

A multiplex reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction(multiplex RT-PCR) assay was developed and subsequently evaluated for its efficacy in the detection of multiple viral infections simultaneously,in swine.Specific primers for each of the 3 RNA viruses,North American genotype porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus,Japanese encephalitis virus,and swine influenza virus,were used in the testing procedure.The assay was shown to be highly sensitive because it could detect as little as 10-5 ng of each of the respective amplicons in a single sample containing a composite of all 3 viruses.The assay was also effective in detecting one or more of the same viruses in various combinations in specimens,including lymph nodes,lungs,spleens,and tonsils,collected from clinically ill pigs and in spleen specimens collected from aborted pig fetuses.The results from the multiplex RT-PCR were confirmed by virus isolation.The relative efficiency(compared to the efficiency of separate assays for each virus) and apparent sensitivity of the multiplex RT-PCR method show that this method has potential for application in routine molecular diagnostic procedures.

Vaccination of Plasmid DNA Encoding Somatostatin Gene Fused with GP5 Gene of Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome Virus Induces Anti-GP5 Antibodies and Promotes Growth Performance in Immunized Pigs

Somatostatin （SS） is a hormone that inhibits the secretion of growth hormone. Immunization against SS can promote the growth of animals. This paper described the effects of DNA immunization on the growth and antibody response in mice and pigs immunized with a plasmid DNA encoding SS fused with GP5 of porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus （PRRSV）. A fragment of 180 bp encoding partial SS gene was amplified by PCR from the genomic DNA of peripheral blood mononuclear cells of pigs, and cloned as a fusion gene with PRRSV GP5 in plasmid pISGRTK3. Three times of immunization with the resulting plasmid pISG-SS/GP5 induced anti-GP5 antibodies in BALB/c mice and pigs, as demonstrated by GP5-specific ELISA and immunoblotting. Compared with pigs immunized with empty vector pISGRTK3, the growth performance of pigs immunized with pISG-SS/GP5 was increased by 11.1% on the 13th week after the last vaccination. The results indicated the plasmid DNA encoding SS and PRRSV GP5 fusion gene elicited anti-GP5 antibodies and improved the growth performance of immunized pigs.

Influence of Hypericum perforatum Extract on Piglet Infected with Porcine Respiratory and Reproductive Syndrome Virus

To study the influence of Hypericum perforatum extract （HPE） on piglets infected with porcine respiratory and reproductive syndrome virus （PRRSV）, enzyme-labeled immunosorbent assay （ELISA） and cytopathic effect （CPE） were used to determine in vitro whether HPE could induce swine pulmonary alveolar macrophages （PAMs） to secrete IFN-γ, and whether PRRSV titers in PAMs were affected by the levels of HPE-induced IFN-γ. HPE （200 mg·kg-1） was administrated by oral gavage to piglets infected with the PRRSV in vivo to observe whether HPE affected the viremia, lung viral titers, and weight gain of piglets infected with PRRSV. The results showed that HPE was capable of inducing PAMs to produce IFN-γ in a dose dependent manner and HPE pretreatment was capable of significantly reducing PRRSV viral titers in PAMs （P〈 0.01）. Administration of HPE to the PRRSV-infected animals significantly （P〈 0.05） reduced viremia over time as compared with the PRRSV-infected animals. But there was not significant decrease in lung viral titers at day 21 post-infection between the HPE- treated animals and the PRRSV-infected control piglets. There were no significant differences in weight gain over time among the HPE-treatment animals, the normal control, and the HPE control animals. The PRRSV-infected animals caused significant （P〈 0.01） growth retardation as compared with the HPE controls and the normal piglets. It suggested that HPE might be an effective novel therapeutic approach to diminish the PRRSV-induced disease in swine.

Evaluation of the Pathogenicity of a Highly Pathogenic Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome Virus Variant in Piglets

Since May 2006,a highly pathogenic porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus （HP-PRRSV） variant characterized by 30 amino acids deletion within its NSP2-coding region emerged and caused extensive economic losses to China＇s pig industry.To investigate the in vivo pathogenicity and immune responses of the newly emerging PRRSV,3 groups of 60-d-old conventional piglets were inoculated intranasally with a representative strain of the HP-PRRSV variant HuN4 with 3 different infection doses （3×103-3×105 TCID50）.The results revealed that the virus variant caused severe disease in piglets and the significant clinical characteristics consisted of persistently high fever （41.0-41.9oC） and high morbidity and mortality （60-100%）,the marked clinical signs of PRRS and severe histopathogenic damages in multiple organs.It induced rapid and intense humoral immune responses and seroconversion was detected in most infected pigs at 7 d post-infection （DPI）.The virus vigorously replicated in vivo and the highest virus average titer was 9.7 log copies mL-1 serum at 7 DPI.Elevated levels of IFN-g and IL-10 cytokine production in serum in this study were also observed.Taken together,our results demonstrated that the HP-PRRSV variant HuN4 strain is highly pathogenic for piglets and suitable to be a reference strain of highly virulent PRRSV for evaluating the efficacy of the new vaccines.

Detection of Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea Virus in Guangxi Province from 2011 to 2014 and Sequence Analysis of Its M Gene

Detection of pigs epidemic diarrhea virus （PEDV） was conducted on 331 piglets diarrhea fecal samples collected in Nanning, Yulin and other 12 areas of Guangxi Province from January of 2011 to April of 2014 by the method of reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction （RT-PCR）. The results showed that the positive samples of PEDV were 210 and the positive rate was 63.44%. The clone and sequencing of M gene was carried out on 25 positive samples. PEDV reference strains were selected from GeneBank to conduct the sequence homology alignment analysis and the phylogenetic tree of M gene. The M gene homology and amino acid sequence identity between 25 isolated strains and 51 reference strains were 96.0% - 99.6% and 94.3% - 99.6%, respectively. The genetic variation anal- ysis of M gene showed that the genetic relationship of PEDV prevalent strains in Guangxi Province from 2013 to 2014 was close to that of the prevalent strains in Bei- jing, Anhui, Wuhan, Hebei and Guangdong from 2010 to 2013, and which were far from that of the Chinese early isolates CH/S （GenBank number： JN547228 ）, vaccine strain CV777 （GenBank number： AF353511 ） and Attenuated DR13 （GenBank number： JQ023162）. Indicating that the PEDV strains prevalent in Guan- gxi in recent years showed significant variation with the early isolates.

A direct real-time polymerase chain reaction assay for rapid high-throughput detection of highly pathogenic North American porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus in China without RNA purification

Background： Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus （PRRSV）, and particularly its highly pathogenic genotype （HP-PRRSV）, have caused massive economic losses to the global swine industry. Results： To rapidly identify HP-PRRSV, we developed a direct reaL-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction method （dRT-PCR） that could detect the virus from serum specimen without the need of RNA purification Our dRT-PCR assay can be completed in 1.5 h from when a sample is received to obtaining a result. Additionally, the sensitivity of dRT-PCR matched that of conventional reverse transcription PCR （cRT-PCR） that used purified RNA The lowest detection limit of HP-PRRSV was 6.3 TCIDs0 using dRT-PCR. We applied dRT-PCR assay to 144 field samples and the results showed strong consistency with those obtained by cRT-PCR. Moreover, the dRT-PCR method was able to tolerate 5-20% （v/v） serum. Conclusions： Our dRT-PCR assay allows for easier, faster, more cost-effective and higher throughput detection of HP-PRRSV compared with cRT-PCR methods. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report to describe a real-time RT-PCR assay capable of detecting PRRSV in crude serum samples without the requirement for purifying RNA. We believe our approach has a great potential for application to other RNA viruses.

Generation and Immunogenicity of a Recombinant Adenovirus Co-Expressing the E2 Protein of Classical Swine Fever Virus and the GP5 Protein of Porcine Reproduction and Respiratory Syndrome Virus

Classical swine fever （CSF） and porcine reproduction and respiratory syndrome （PRRS） are both economically important, highly contagious diseases of swine worldwide. To develop an effective vaccine to control these two diseases, we constructed a recombinant adenovirus rAdV-GP52AE2, using a replication-defective human adenovirus serotype 5 as a delivery vector, to co-express the GP5 protein of highly pathogenic porcine reproduction and respiratory syndrome virus （PRRSV） and the E2 protein of classical swine fever virus （CSFV）. Foot-and-mouth disease virus （FMDV） 2A peptide was used as a linker between the GP5 and E2 proteins to allow automatic self-cleavage of the polyprotein. The GP5 and E2 genes were expressed as demonstrated by immunofluorescence assay and Western blotting. Immunization of mice resulted in a CSFV-neutralizing antibody titer of 1：128 and a PRRSV-neutralizing antibody titer of 1：16. The lymphoproliferative responses were detected by Cell Counting Kit-8 assay and the stimulation index of CFSV-specific and PRRSV-specific lymphocytes in the rAdV-GP52AE2 group was significantly higher than that in the negative control group. The results show that rAdV-GP52AE2 can induce both effective humoral and cell-mediated immune responses in mice. The protective efficacy of the recombinant virus against CSF was evaluated in immunized rabbits, which were protected from fever induced by challenge with C-strain. Our study provides supporting evidence for the use of FMDV 2A to develop a bivalent genetically-engineered vaccine.

Development of PPA-ELISA for Detecting Antibodies against Porcine Pseudorabies Virus Using Truncated Recombinant Glycoprotein gD Expressed in E.coli

The purpose of this study was to develop a method for detecting antibodies against porcine pseudorabies virus （PRV）. According to the published genomic sequence of PRV SA strain, an approximately 1 070-bp gD gene fragment was amplified by PCR. The PCR products were cloned into the prokaryotic expression vector pET30a and the positive recombinant plasmid was transformed into E. coli BL21. Through induction with IPTG, the recombinant gD protein was expressed as inclusion bodies. As analyzed by western blot assay, the purified recombinant gD protein had good antigenicity and high specificity. Using the purified gD protein as coating antigen and horseradish peroxidase labeled staphylococcal protein A （PPA） as secondary antibody, we developed a PPA-ELISA for detecting antibodies against porcine PPV. No cross-reaction with the positive sera against seven common pathogens in pigs including classical swine fever virus, porcine parvovirus, porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome, Japanese encephalitis virus, porcine circovirus type 2, porcine epidemic diarrhea virus, transmissible gastroenteritis virus was observed. The repeatability test showed that the intra- and inter-assay coefficients of variation were lower than 5% and 10%, respectively. Compared with the ELISA gD antibody test kit produced by IDEXX, the coincidence, sensitivity and specificity of the developed PPA-ELISA were 92.0%, 95.1% and 88.1%, respectively. The developed PPA-ELISA had good repeatability, sensitivity and specificity and was a rapid and simple serological method for surveillance of PRV antibodies in pig herds as well as for rapid diagnosis and epidemiological investigation of PRV infection.

Characterization of Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome Virus Deletion Mutant

The genome of the isolate of porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus （PRRSV） from China, designated HPBEDV, was sequenced and analyzed. The size of the genome of HPBEDV was 15 334 nucleotides （nt）. Comparative analysis of HPBEDV with the genomic sequences of the domestic and other isolates （JXA 1, HUN4, CH-1 a, B J-4, VR2332, and LV） revealed that HPBEDV shared 98.4, 98.0, 89.0, 88.7, and 88.6% identity with the American strain JXA1, HUN4, CH- 1a, BJ-4, and VR2332, respectively, but only 54.7% identity with the European reference strain Lelystad virus. The NSP2 gene had 2 850 nt and encoded 950 amino acids （aa）, with two discontiguous deletions of 1 aa and 29 aa at positions 482 and 534-562, respectively, relative to VR-2332. Also, phylogenetic analysis with the published PRRSV genomic sequences indicated that the newly emerging isolate form a clade with the VR-2332 isolates. Therefore, HPBEDV was a novel strain with deletions in NSP2 gene.

Isolation and Identification of a Porcine Pseudorabies Virus Strain in Taizhou City

In this study, the liver, kidney and spleen tissues were collected from pigs with suspected PR in a pig farm in Jiangyan District, Taizhou City for virus isolation and identification. The isolated virus was inoculated onto PK15 monolayer cells. The virus culture was collected to extract genomic DNA for PCR assay and indirect immunoinfluscent assay. The results showed that the isolated virus was porcine pseudorabies virus, which was named TAIZ130417. The growth titer of the isolated virus reached 10 8.12 TCID 50 /ml on PK15 cells. Rabbits inoculated with the isolated virus soon exhibited pseudorabies symptoms such as itching and eventually died. The results provided reference for in-depth research and scientific prevention and control of pseudorabies.

Construction and Immunogenicity of Recombinant Lactococcus lactis Expressing S1 Protein of Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea Virus(PEDV)

To evaluate the specific immune responses induced by recombinant Lactococcus lactis（L.lactis） which expresses porcine epidemic diarrhea virus（PEDV） S1 protein through oral administration,the spike gene fragment of PEDV was amplified from PEDV SDLY strain to construct p MG36 e-S1 recombinant plasmid.The recombinant plasmid was then electro-transferred into competent cells of L.lactis MG1363,to prepare the recombinant L.lactis expressing S1 protein of PEDV.The expression of target protein was identified by SDS-PAGE and Western-blot.New Zealand white rabbits were orally administered with the recombinant strain;the antibody titer in intestinal mucosa and serum was detected by neutralizing test;and the specific Ig G in serum was evaluated by indirect ELISA.The results showed that the recombinant L.lactis could effectively induce high level of Ig G in serum and high level of mucosal immune antibody.The recombinant L.lactis is qualified to be a potential oral vaccine because it could successfully stimulate both humoral and mucosal immune responses against PEDV.

Real-time Fluorescence Reverse-transcription Loop-mediated Isothermal Amplification for Detection of Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea Virus

Porcine epidemic diarrhea,a highly contagious enteric infectious disease caused by the porcine epidemic diarrhea virus（ PEDV） with symptoms of vomit,diarrhea,loss of appetite of suckling pig,has led to serious economic loss to the global swine industry. In this study,a real-time fluorescence reverse transcription loop-mediated isothermal amplification（ RT-LAMP） assay was developed to detect PEDV RNA. The real-time fluorescence RT-LAMP assay was performed at62 ℃ for 60 min,using a simple and portable device,the ESE-Quant Tube Scanner. The detection limit of RNA was 2. 9 × 10~6 copies/μl,10 times as sensitive as RT-PCR,and the detection was specific only to PEDV. Application of this method to clinical samples yielded a positivity rate of 93%,which was higher than that of RT-PCR. This technique saves time and is efficient,and is thus expected to be useful for the diagnosis of PEDV infection in the field.

Identification of the strain-specifically truncated nonstructural protein 10 of porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus in infected cells

The nonstructural protein 10（nsp10） of porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus（PRRSV） encodes for helicase which plays a vital role in viral replication. In the present study, a truncated form of nsp10, termed nsp10 a, was found in PRRSV-infected cells and the production of nsp10 a was strain-specific. Mass spectrometric analysis and deletion mutagenesis indicated that nsp10 a may be short of about 70 amino acids in the N terminus of nsp10. Further studies by rescuing recombinant viruses showed that the Glu-69 in nsp10 was the key amino acid for nsp10 a production. Finally, we demonstrated that nsp10 a exerted little influence on the growth kinetics of PRRSV in vitro.

Isolation and Identification of Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea Virus(PEDV) HLJ Strain with IPEC-J2 Cells and Phylogenetic Analysis of Its S Gene

Porcine epidemic diarrhea(PED)is caused by porcine epidemic diarrhea virus(PEDV),and is characterized by vomiting,diarrhea and dehydration of suckling pigs from 80% to 100% morbidity and 50% to 90% mortality,and resulted in tremendous economic losses to swine industry.The PEDV mainly infects small intestine of pigs,resulting in vacuolar degeneration and necrosis of mucosal epithelium.The IPEC-J2 is a pig intestine epithelial cell line,which is similar to the intestinal environment of piglets,can be used to isolate and identify the PEDV field isolates.In this study,it appeared the PEDV typical postmortem changes and histopathological lesion of degeneration and destruction of small intestine in infected piglets,and IHC identified that the PEDV distributed in the mucosa and submucosa of small intestine mostly.Furthermore,the PEDV HLJ strain was successfully isolated and characterized in the IPEC-J2 cells,and indicated that the IPEC-J2 cell line was sensitive to isolate and adapt the PEDV field strain,and could be utilized to multiply the PEDV rapidly.The S gene analysis indicated that the PEDV HLJ strain was the prevailed virus,belonged to Group 1 with attenuated virulent DR13,SC1402 and J-S2/2015 strains isolated in South Korea and China from 2014 to 2015.This study had important theoretical and practical significances on analyzing genetic variation of the PEDV,understanding the pathogenic characteristics of the virus and developing new vaccines for the PED.

Development and Preliminary Application of SYBR Green I Real-Time Fluorescence Quantitative PCR Method for Detecting Porcine Parvovirus Virus

According to VP2 gene sequence of the porcine parvovirus virus strain NADL-2 （NC001718） available in GenBank （NC_001718）, a pair of specific primer was designed, and the target fragment of 431 bp was obtained by PCR amplification. The products were ligated with pMD18- T vector and then transformed into bacteria DH5α for recombinant plasmid extraction. After PCR identification and sequencing, recombinant plasmid was used as a standard template to establish the standard curve of SYBR Green I fluorescence quantitative PCR. Sensitivity test, specificity test and repeatability test were also determined. The results indicated that there was a good linear relationship between threshold cycle of the standard curve and template concentration, R2 =0.997 6. Tm ranged from 82.3 to 82.9 ℃, while the sensitivity was 72.1 copies/μl with good specificity and repeatability. The developed SYBR Green I real-time quantitative PCR method to detect PPV VP2 gene laid the basis for further studies on patho- oenesis, early clinical diaonosis of this virus and quantitative analysis of PPV infection.

Attenuation of Virulent Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome Virus Strain CH-1a and Genetic Variation of ORF5 Gene

To develop a modified live vaccine （MLV） against porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus （PRRSV）, virulent CH-Ia strain was attenuated by serial passages up to 130 passage （P130） in Marc-145 cells. The virulence and immune efficacy of the attenuated CH-1 a were evaluated in pigs. The results showed that animals inoculated with P130 did not develop any clinical sign of the disease, but produced rapid and effective humoral immune responses against PRRSV challenge, indicating that attenuated CH-1 a P 130 is the candidate as the effective vaccine against PRRSV. To define the potential mutations in the attenuated CH-la genome, we sequenced and analyzed the ORF5 gene of CH-la strain of different passages （P39, P55, P65, P70, P85, P100, P115, P120, P125, and P130） and found that three mutations （C5Y, H38Q and L146Q） which may be related with the attenuation of CH-la. In addition, we also found a unique restriction enzyme site （TspEI） in the ORF5 gene of attenuated CH-la, which can be used as a genetic marker to distinguish original and attenuated CH- 1 a.

Porcine NF-κB p65 Subunit:Molecular Characterization,Tissue Expression and Transcriptional Profile in Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea Virus-infected IPEC-J2 Cells

The p65 protein is a functional subunit of NF-κB family and exhibits a crucial role in host immune and inflammatory responses,apoptosis and tumor proliferation if improperly-regulated.Given its ubiquitous association with nearly all the animal cells and its pleotropic functions,the gene encoding NF-κB p65 subunit was cloned and sequenced from porcine kidney(PK-15)cells.The gene was 1662 bp in length,encoded a 553-amino acid protein and contained the prototypical NF-κB functional domains.Real-time quantitative RT-PCR and Western blot were used to characterize the transcription and expression levels of the p65 in different pig tissues.The results indicated that the p65 gene and protein were both broadly expressed in pig tissues,but most highly expressed in the intestine-associated lymph nodes and the lungs.To localize the recombinant protein in intestinal porcine epithelial cells(IPEC-J2),the gene was subcloned into the vector pEGFP(pEGFP-p65).Using fluorescence microscopy,the protein was found confined to the cytoplasm in normal cells;however,during porcine epidemic diarrhea virus(PEDV)infection,mRNA and protein expression were significantly up-regulated and the protein exhibited an overt tendency for nuclear translocalization consistent with a regulatory role in antiviral innate immunity.

Study on the Function of ORF Genes of Porcine Circovirus-like Virus P1

[Objectives]This study was conducted to determine the functions of eight ORF genes of porcine circovirus-like virus P1.[Methods]The double-copy tandem molecular cloning of porcine circovirus-like virus P1 genome was used to construct molecular clones with eight ORFs deleted by DNA site-directed mutagenesis technology.After transfected into PK15 cells for a certain period of time,RNA were extracted and was used to verify whether the eight ORFs were deleted or not and used for gene microarry analysis.The GO functions and KEGG pathway enrichment of differentially expressed genes were analyzed.[Results]P1 ORF1 is mainly involved in the biological processes of defense response to virus,signal transduction,regulation of Rab GTPase activity,and lipid metabolic process,and involved in the molecular functions of protein phosphatase inhibitor activity,phosphatidylinositol phospholipase C activity,2 iron,2 sulfur cluster binding,phosphoric diester hydrolase activity,and Rab GTPase activator activity,and in the KEGG pathways of secretion of digestive gland and nervous system development.P1 ORF2 is mainly involved in the biological processes of positive regulation of leukocyte chemotaxis,positive regulation of cell proliferation,positive regulation of cell migration,defense response to virus,regulation of cell growth,and involved in the molecular functions of insulin-like growth factor binding,and chemokine activity,and in the KEGG pathways of cytosolic DNA-sensing pathway,RIG-I-like receptor signaling pathway,toll-like receptor signaling pathway,chemokine signaling pathway,and cytokines,cytokine-cytokine receptor interaction.The biological processes,molecular functions and related pathways involving P1 ORF3 and ORF5 are basically similar to those of ORF2.P1 ORF8 is mainly involved in the biological processes of purine ribonucleotide biosynthetic process,amino acid transport,defense response to virus,amino acid transmembrane transport,and involved in molecular functions of N6-(1,2-dicarboxyethyl)AMP AMP-lyase(fumarate-forming)activity,iron-sulfur cluster binding,amino acid transmembrane transporter activity.[Conclusions]The analysis of the ORF functions of P1 virus lays a foundation for the study of its pathogenicity and pathogenesis.

Screening of Host Proteins Interacting with PorcineEpidemic Diarrhea Virus (PEDV) N Protein by YeastTwo-hybrid System

[Objective] The paper was to obtain host proteins interacting with porcine epidemic diarrhea virus （PEDV） N protein. [Method] The re-combinant vector pGBKT7-N of PEDV N gene was constructed and used as the bait plasmid to screen the proteins interacting with N protein ofPEDV from the cDNA library of porcine alveolar macrophage （PAM） by yeast two-hybrid method. [Result] There was no toxicity and self activationof bait protein in yeast hybridization system, and six proteins （FTH1, LGALS3, CORO1C, SNRPG, KRTAP5-3, ZNF598） interacting with N proteinwere indentified. It was confirmed that LGALS3 and SNRPG had specific interaction with N protein by return experiment and co-immunoprecipitation（CoIP） test. [Conclusion] The study lays a foundation for further studying the function of PEDV N protein and the pathogenic mechanism of PEDV.

Identification of niclosamide as a novel antiviral agent against porcine epidemic diarrhea virus infection by targeting viral internalization

Porcine epidemic diarrhea virus(PEDV),an enteropathogenic coronavirus,has catastrophic impacts on the global pig industry.However,there remain no effective drugs against PEDV infection.In this study,we utilized a recombinant PEDV expressing renilla luciferase(PEDV-Rluc)to screen potential anti-PEDV agents from an FDAapproved drug library in Vero cells.Four compounds were identified that significantly decreased luciferase activity of PEDV-Rluc.Among them,niclosamide was further characterized because it exhibited the most potent antiviral activity with the highest selectivity index.It can efficiently inhibit viral RNA synthesis,protein expression and viral progeny production of classical and variant PEDV strains in a dose-dependent manner.Time of addition assay showed that niclosamide exhibited potent anti-PEDV activity when added simultaneously with or after virus infection.Furthermore,niclosamide significantly inhibited the entry stage of PEDV infection by affecting viral internalization rather than viral attachment to cells.In addition,a combination with other small molecule inhibitors of endosomal acidification enhanced the anti-PEDV effect of niclosamide in vitro.Taken together,these findings suggested that niclosamide is a novel antiviral agent that might provide a basis for the development of novel drug therapies against PEDV and other related pathogenic coronavirus infections.