Enterovirus A71 Induces Neurological Diseases and Dynamic Variants in Oral Infection of Human SCARB2-Transgenic Weaned Mice

Enterovirus A71 (EV-A71) and many members of the Picornaviridae family are neurotropic pathogens of global concern. These viruses are primarily transmitted through the fecal-oral route, and thus suitable animal models of oral infection are needed to investigate viral pathogenesis. An animal model of oral infection was developed using transgenic mice expressing human SCARB2 (hSCARB2 Tg), murine-adapted EV-A71/MP4 virus, and EV-A71/MP4 virus with an engineered nanoluciferase gene that allows imaging of viral replication and spread in infected mice. Next-generation sequencing of EV-A71 genomes in the tissues and organs of infected mice was also performed. Oral inoculation of EV-A71/MP4 or nanoluciferase-carrying MP4 virus stably induced neurological symptoms and death in infected 21-day-old weaned mice. In vivo bioluminescence imaging of infected mice and tissue immunostaining of viral antigens indicated that orally inoculated virus can spread to the central nervous system (CNS) and other tissues. Next-generating sequencing further identified diverse mutations in viral genomes that can potentially contribute to viral pathogenesis. This study presents an EV-A71 oral infection murine model that efficiently infects weaned mice and allows tracking of viral spread, features that can facilitate research into viral pathogenesis and neuroinvasion via the natural route of infection. IMPORTANCE Enterovirus A71 (EV-A71), a positive-strand RNA virus of the Picornaviridae, poses a persistent global public health problem. EV-A71 is primarily transmitted through the fecal-oral route, and thus suitable animal models of oral infection are needed to investigate viral pathogenesis. We present an animal model of EV-A71 infection that enables the natural route of oral infection in weaned and nonimmunocompromised 21-day-old hSCARB2 transgenic mice. Our results demonstrate that severe disease and death could be stably induced, and viral invasion of the CNS could be replicated in this model, similar to severe real-world EV-A71 infections. We also developed a nanoluciferase-containing EV-A71 virus that can be used with this animal model to track viral spread after oral infection in real time. Such a model offers several advantages over existing animal models and can facilitate future research into viral spread, tissue tropism, and viral pathogenesis, all pressing issues that remain unaddressed for EV-A71 infections.