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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Athens, Georgia » U.S. National Poultry Research Center » Avian Disease and Oncology Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #296962
Title: Differential expression of Toll-like receptor pathway genes in chicken embryo fibroblasts from chickens resistant and susceptible to Marek’s disease

Author
item HAUNSHI, SANTOSH - Project Directorate On Poultry, Indian Council Of Agricultural Research (ICAR)
item Cheng, Hans

Submitted to: Poultry Science
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 11/10/2013
Publication Date: 2/26/2014
Publication URL: https://handle.nal.usda.gov/10113/58507
Citation: Haunshi, S., Cheng, H.H. 2014. Differential expression of Toll-like receptor pathway genes in chicken embryo fibroblasts from chickens resistant and susceptible to Marek’s disease. Poultry Science. 93:550-555. Available: http://dx.doi.org/10.3382/ps.2013-03597.

Interpretive Summary: Marek’s disease is a serious disease of poultry caused by the Marek’s disease virus. Understanding the immune response to the virus should help in selecting for birds with superior disease resistance. In this study, we find that specific genes are expressed higher and respond more strongly to viral infection. This information can be use be to select for birds with superior disease resistance, which will ultimately benefit poultry breeders and US consumers.

Technical Abstract: The Toll-like receptor (TLR) signaling pathway is one of the innate immune defense mechanisms against pathogens in vertebrates and invertebrates. However, the role of TLR in non-MHC genetic resistance or susceptibility to Marek’s disease (MD) in the chicken is yet to be elucidated. Chicken embryo fibroblast (CEF) cells from MD susceptible and resistant lines were infected either with Marek’s disease virus (MDV) or treated with polyionosinic-polycytidylic acid, a synthetic analog of dsRNA, and the expression of TLR and pro-inflammatory cytokines was studied at 8 and 36 h posttreatment by quantitative reverse transcriptase PCR. Findings of the present study reveal that MDV infection and polyionosinic-polycytidylic acid treatment significantly elevated the mRNA expression of TLR3, IL6, and IL8 in both susceptible and resistant lines. Furthermore, basal expression levels in uninfected CEF for TLR3, TLR7, and IL8 genes were significantly higher in resistant chickens compared with those of susceptible chickens. Our results suggest that TLR3 together with pro-inflammatory cytokines may play a significant role in genetic resistance to MD.