Marek’s disease virus may interfere with T cell immunity by TLR3 signals

• Published in: Veterinary research communications 2014-06, Vol.38 (2), p.149-156
• Main Authors: Hu, Xuming, Xu, Wencai, Qin, Aijian, Wu, Genghua, Qian, Kun, Shao, Hongxia, Ye, Jianqiang
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Animals; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Chickens; gene expression regulation; Gene Expression Regulation - immunology; genes; Genes - genetics; Herpesvirus 2, Gallid - immunology; immune response; Life Sciences; Marek Disease - immunology; Marek's disease herpesvirus; Original Article; T-Lymphocytes - immunology; Thymus Gland - immunology; Time; Toll-Like Receptor 3 - genetics; Toll-Like Receptor 3 - metabolism; Toll-Like Receptors; Veterinary Medicine/Veterinary Science; viruses; Zoology
• ISSN: 0165-7380; 1573-7446
• DOI: 10.1007/s11259-014-9598-x

Marek’s disease virus (MDV) is a highly oncogenic alpha-herpesvirus that causes T cell immune suppression and malignant lymphomas in chickens. Toll-like receptor (TLR) plays a dominant role in antiviral T cell immunity. However, it is unclear whether MDV induced T cell immunity is associated with TLR-mediated immunity. In this study, the expression of 28 host genes that are involved in TLR-mediated immunity and MHC-medicated T cell immunity was evaluated in chicken thymus at 7, 14, 21 and 28 days post-infection (dpi). Our results demonstrated that 24 host immune-related genes were upregulated during MDV infection at 7 dpi; however, the expression of most of these genes decreased at 21 and 28 dpi. Notably, a positive correlation was found between the down-regulation of CD4, CD8 and TLR3 signals but not the MyD88-dependent TLR pathway. The present study expanded our knowledge of host immune responses against MDV infection and our results might provide a clue that MDV may interfere with T cell immune response through TLR3 signals.