Morphology of immune organs after very virulent plus strain of Marek’s disease virus infection in vaccinated hens

Abstract

Marek's disease (MD) outbreaks in poultry flocks may be associated with overriding of vaccine immune protection by very virulent (vvMDV) or very virulent plus (vv+MDV) strains. This paper presents the study on lymphoid organ morphology in the latent phase of MD caused by vv+MDV which break post-vaccinal protection in hens. We also immunohistochemically examined B and T populations as well as B/T and CD4 + /CD8+ ratio of lymphocytes in lymphatic organs and, as a background, in MD lymphomas from non-lymphatic organs. The number of antigen expressed cells was evaluated as a percentage of positive cells in the one power field. Organ samples were collected from 24 dead reproductive hens (Ross 308 line) in age between 35-56 weeks, infected with vv+MDV. The hens originated from farms with MD outbreaks, despite earlier routine vaccination with CVI988/Rispens + HVT. The control organ samples originated from 15 clinically healthy hens at the same age and line, subjected to the same vaccination schedule. The number of CD3 + , CD8 + and TCRγδ + cells was significantly lower in MDV infected thymus, spleen and cecal tonsils in comparison to that found in the control organs. The proportion of CD4 + was also distinctly reduced in the thymus and limited in the spleen of MDV infected hens. This study revealed that infection with field vv+MDV isolates might break post-vaccinal protection and influence the central and peripheral immune system. The decrease in CD8 + and TCRγδ + cell number in the thymus, spleen and cecal tonsils suggests that primarily these cells are involved in cell-mediated cytotoxicity against MDV transformed cells during latency.

Revisiting cellular immune response to oncogenic Marek’s disease virus: the rising of avian T-cell immunity

“…Therefore, it is believed that the wide use of MDV vaccines is driving the evolution of MDV field viruses toward greater virulence [1,[11][12][13][14]. Indeed, virulent or very virulent plus MDV (vv+ MDV) field strains were documented to break through the protection conferred by CVI988 vaccine clinically or experimentally [14][15][16][17][18], highlighting a worry of the lack of a better alternative to CVI988 to combat increasingly virulent MDV strains in the future. Unfortunately, progress in developing such vaccines has been slow, since most MDV vaccines under development are no more efficacious or safer than CVI988 [19,20].…”

First molecular detection and characterization of Marek’s disease virus in red-crowned cranes (Grus japonensis): a case report

“…For example, previous reports have shown that molecular evolution of MDV genes could increase the pathogenicity of MDV virulent strains [ 34 ]. Infection of very virulent MDV (vvMDV) could also break post-vaccinal protection and cause the outbreak of MDV [ 35 ]. Therefore, the safety of this measurement needs to be studied in depth.…”

First report of Serotype-1 Marek’s disease virus (MDV-1) with oncogenic form in backyard turkeys in Turkey: a molecular analysis study

“…Although MD vaccines have successfully been used in reducing major losses due to the disease, several factors such as improper use of the vaccine, exposure to virulent viruses before the development of immunity, interference from maternally derived antibodies and emergence of new virulent strains have limited the effectiveness of the vaccines. In fact, MDV has evolved into a more virulent form and the emerging strains not only are capable of breaking vaccine immunity but also show immunosuppressive effects [ 6 , 7 ].…”