BKV Activates the Interferon-b response in Primary and Immortalized Microvascular Endothelial Cells Late in the Infectious Cycle Resulting in Persistence

Unlike the permissive renal proximal tubule cells, infected endothelial cells activate innate immunity pathways in response to BKV infection. We hypothesized that the innate immune response limits BKV infection resulting in persistence.

In this report we show that activation of innate immune pathways is not triggered by incoming virus particles but rather occurs at a late stage of the infectious cycle, when viral DNA replication, high levels of late viral transcription, and progeny virion assembly are occurring. Single cell transcriptomic data indicate that this response varies across the infected cell population with some cells showing little or no innate immune response while others appear to be highly activated.