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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 #337371
Title: Efficacy of an autophagy-targeted DNA vaccine against avian leukosis virus subgroup J

Author
item DAI, ZHENKAI - South China Agricultural University
item HUANG, JIANFEI - South China Agricultural University
item LEI, XIAOVA - South China Agricultural University
item YAN, YIMING - South China Agricultural University
item LU, PIAOPIAO - South China Agricultural University
item Zhang, Huanmin
item LIN, WENCHENG - South China Agricultural University
item CHEN, WEIGUO - South China Agricultural University
item MA, JINGYUN - South China Agricultural University
item XIE, QINGMEI - South China Agricultural University

Submitted to: Vaccine
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 12/12/2016
Publication Date: 12/31/2016
Publication URL: http://handle.nal.usda.gov/10113/5603947
Citation: Dai, Z., Huang, J., Lei, X., Yan, Y., Lu, P., Zhang, H., Lin, W., Chen, W., Ma, J., Xie, Q. 2016. Efficacy of an autophagy-targeted DNA vaccine against avian leukosis virus subgroup J. Vaccine. doi:10.1016/j.vaccine.2016.12.034.

Interpretive Summary: Avian leukosis viruses (ALV) present one of most serious tumor virus threats to the poultry industry, which has been primarily controlled by eradication plus strict management measures. This study represents a breakthrough of a long-term effort by the science community in developing vaccination control schemes against ALV in poultry. A candidate DNA vaccine has been developed and the results of controlled animal experiments showed promising perspectives to augment current control measures. When it is further optimized and improved, it would be very beneficial to the poultry industry in preventing ALV infection.

Technical Abstract: Infection with the avian leukosis virus subgroup J (ALV-J) can lead to neoplastic disease in chickens, inflicting significant economic losses to the poultry industry. Recent reports have identified inhibitory effects of ALV-J on autophagy, a process involving in innate and adaptive immunity. Inspired by this connection between autophagy and immunity, we developed a novel DNA vaccine against ALV-J which includes co-administration of rapamycin to stimulate autophagy. To measure the efficacy of the developed prototype vaccine, five experimental groups of seven-day-old chickens were immunized three times at three-week intervals respectively with vector, pVAX1-gp85, pVAX1-gp85-LC3, pVAX1-gp85 + rapamycin and pVAX1-gp85-LC3 + rapamycin through electroporation. We then tested their antibody titers, cytokine levels and cellular immune responses. The immunoprotective efficacy of the prototype vaccines against the challenge of the ALV-J GD1109 strain was also examined. The results showed that the combination of pVAX1-gp85-LC3 and rapamycin was able to induce the highest antibody titers, and enhance interleukin(IL)-2, IL-10 and interferon (IFN)-c expression; and the chickens immunized with the combination of pVAX1-gp85-LC3 and rapamycin showed the highest percentage of CD3+ CD8+ T lymphocytes. Based on our results, we suggest that stimulating autophagy can improve the efficacy of DNA vaccines and that our DNA vaccine shows the potential of being a candidate vaccine against ALV-J. This study provides a novel strategy for developing vaccines against ALV-J.