Evaluation of the gene expression of STING, IFN‐β and osteopontin in tissue obtained from pigs treated with Matrix‐M

Abstract: Matrix‐M is the adjuvant component in traditional ISCOM vaccines. The adjuvant when used along with antigen increases the efficiency of the vaccines by inducing a balanced Th1/Th2 response and a long‐lasting antibody response. Transcriptomal studies in the pig show that the majority of upregulated genes during the early inflammatory response to Matrix‐M alone are Interferon regulated genes (Ahlberg, Lovgren Bengtsson, Wallgren, & Fossum, 2012). The present study aimed to establish qPCR assays for detection of gene expression of stimulator of interferon genes (STING), osteopontin (OPN) and interferon‐beta (IFN‐β) in porcine tissue. STING is a protein localized in the endoplasmatic reticulum that on activation is believed to enhance the production of Type I interferons (Sun et al., 2009). Overexpression of OPN is believed to play a key role in inducing the production of Interferon‐α and other Type 1 interferons by plasmacytoid dendritic cells (Shinohara et al., 2006). A comparative gene expression study of STING and OPN in pigs treated with Matrix‐M revealed that one or both of the genes were up‐regulated in pigs with increased expression of the IFN‐β gene 24 hours after administration of Matrix‐M.