Wilhelm FurnonPascal FenderMarie Pierre ConfortSophie DesloireSawitree NangolaKuntida KitideeCaroline LerouxMaxime RatinierFrédérick ArnaudSylvie LecollinetPierre BoulangerSaw See HongUniversity of PhayaoÉcole Pratique des Hautes EtudesUniversité Claude Bernard Lyon 1Mahidol UniversityEcole Nationale Vétérinaire d'AlfortCNRS Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueInserm2020-01-272020-01-272019-09-27Viruses. Vol.11, No.10 (2019)199949152-s2.0-85072783021https://repository.li.mahidol.ac.th/handle/20.500.14594/51017© 2019 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. The cellular response to the recombinant NS1 protein of West Nile virus (NS1WNV) was studied using three different cell types: Vero E6 simian epithelial cells, SH-SY5Y human neuroblastoma cells, and U-87MG human astrocytoma cells. Cells were exposed to two different forms of NS1WNV: (i) the exogenous secreted form, sNS1WNV, added to the extracellular milieu; and (ii) the endogenous NS1WNV, the intracellular form expressed in plasmid-transfected cells. The cell attachment and uptake of sNS1WNV varied with the cell type and were only detectable in Vero E6 and SH-SY5Y cells. Addition of sNS1WNV to the cell culture medium resulted in significant remodeling of the actin filament network in Vero E6 cells. This effect was not observed in SH-SY5Y and U-87MG cells, implying that the cellular uptake of sNS1WNV and actin network remodeling were dependent on cell type. In the three cell types, NS1WNV-expressing cells formed filamentous projections reminiscent of tunneling nanotubes (TNTs). These TNT-like projections were found to contain actin and NS1WNV proteins. Interestingly, similar actin-rich, TNT-like filaments containing NS1WNV and the viral envelope glycoprotein EWNV were also observed in WNV-infected Vero E6 cells.Mahidol UniversityImmunology and MicrobiologyMedicineArticleSCOPUS10.3390/v11100901