Enhancement of humoral and cellular immunity in chickens against reticuloendotheliosis virus by DNA prime-protein boost vaccination

Abstract

Reticuloendotheliosis virus (REV) causes an oncogenic, immunosuppressive and runting syndrome in multiple avian hosts worldwide. In this study, an optimal vaccination strategy was developed to enhance the immune responses against REV infection. Chickens were vaccinated twice intramuscularly with plasmid pCAGgp90 encoding gp90 protein of REV, or with recombinant gp90 protein, or vaccinated with plasmid pCAGgp90 and then boosted with recombinant gp90 protein. The humoral immune responses were monitored by ELISA and virus neutralizing test. In addition, lymphocyte proliferation response, cytokine production and protection effectiveness against REV infection were also evaluated. Although all vaccinated groups developed immune responses, chickens primed with pCAGgp90 plasmid and boosted with rgp90 protein developed higher levels of antibodies compared with those immunized with pCAGgp90 plasmid or rgp90 protein alone. Furthermore, enhanced cellular immune responses were induced following priming with the pCAGgp90 plasmid and boosting with the rgp90 protein. In addition, the DNA prime-protein boost vaccine yielded 100% protection of chickens from REV viremia caused by challenge infection. These findings demonstrated that a DNA prime-protein boost vaccination strategy could enhance both humoral and cellular immune responses in chickens, highlighting the potential value of such an approach in the prevention of REV infection.