The nature of expression of avian immunity genes during infection with GALLID ALPHAHERPESVIRUS 2 and MELEAGRID ALPHAHERPESVIRUS 1

Marek's disease is a dangerous immunosuppressive  viral  disease  of  poultry.  Most egg poultry farm in the Russian Federation vaccinate their chickens on the first day of life against this viral disease. Thanks to this vaccine prevention tactic, poultry farms protect  themselves  from  the  outbreak  of  this disease and economic damage. Traditionally, among  the  viruses  related  to  this  disease, there are the 1st serotype of the Marek's disease  virus  (Gallid  alphaherpesvirus  2)  and the 3rd serotype of the Marek's disease virus, which is not such in a strict taxonomic sense (Meleagrid  alphaherpesvirus  1,  also  called turkey herpesvirus). When poultry is infected, this virus causes a significant change in the expression of the main immunity genes (IL6,  PTGS2,  IRF7).  Based  on  the  results obtained, it was concluded that the expression of the IL6 and PTGS2 genes was slightly  higher  than  the  level  of  expression  of these genes in the control group. It is possible  that  local immunity  was  suppressed by the  immunosuppressive  properties  of  the Marek's  disease  virus.  When  studying  the expression of the IRF7 gene, a strong effect of viruses of both serotypes on this gene was found,  and  Gallid  alphaherpesvirus  2  exceeded the level of this effect compared to the  effect  of  Meleagrid  alphaherpesvirus  1 by 4 times. These results may indicate that sharply  increasing  expression  of  the  IRF7 gene may be a sign of Marek's disease virus replication (since Gallid alphaherpesvirus 2 and  Meleagrid  alphaherpesvirus  1  interact with the same cellular receptor, the vaccine effect  of  Meleagrid  alphaherpesvirus  1  is based  on  this).  On  the  other  hand,  we  can conclude that the introduction of these viruses does not cause inflammatory and immune reactions in the ileocecal tonsils of birds.

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