Susceptibility and immune responses following experimental infection of MHC compatible Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L.) with different infectious salmon anaemia virus isolates.

Infectious salmon anaemia virus (ISAV) is an aquatic orthomyxovirus causing a multisystemic disease in farmed Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) where disease development, clinical signs, and histopathology vary to a large extent. Here, an experimental trial was designed to determine the effect of variation in viral genes on virus-host interactions, as measured by disease susceptibility and immune responses. The fish were infected using cohabitant transmission, representing a natural route of infection. Variation caused by host factors was minimized using MHC compatible A. salmon half-siblings as experimental fish. Virus isolates were selected according to HE genotype, as European ISAV isolates can be genotyped according to deletion patterns in their hemagglutinin-esterase (HE) surface glycoprotein, and the course of disease they typically induce, classified as acute versus protracted. The different ISAV isolates induced large variations in death prevalence, ranging from 0-47% in the test-group and 3-75% in the cohabitant fish. The use of MHC compatible experimental fish made it possible to determine the relative contribution of humoral versus cellular response in protection against ISA. Ability to induce a strong proliferative response correlated with survival and virus clearance, while induction of a humoral response was less protective.