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Submitted to: NE-60 Regional Meeting
Publication Type: Experiment Station Publication Acceptance Date: 6/30/1998 Publication Date: N/A Citation: N/A Interpretive Summary: Identification of factors which are naturally secreted by immune lymphocytes is important in the development of immuological control strategy against coccidiosis. A series of studies were carried out to identify and clone chicken genes which encode soluble factors secreted by immue lymphocytes. In this report to the regional NE-60 meeting on "the genetic basis for resistance to avian diseases", ARS scientists described molecular cloning and functional characterization of two chicken cytokines, gamma-interferon and T-cell growth factor. Results showed that both gamma-interferon and T-cell growth factor can enhance host immune response to parasitic infections. Technical Abstract: IFN-gamma is a key cytokine which has been shown to influence coccidia resistance in murine coccidiosis model. The availability of recombinant chicken IFN-gamma now will make in vivo testing in this economically important food animal possible. The potential association of some microsatellite markers with reduced oocyst production following coccidia challenge will enable the future development of genetic selection strategies. |
