Abstract
Newcastle disease (ND), caused by virulent strains of Newcastle disease virus (NDV), is a highly contagious disease of birds that is responsible for heavy economic losses for the poultry industry worldwide. However, little is known about host-virus interactions in waterfowl, goose. In this study, we aim to characterize the host immune response in goose, based on the previous reports on the host response to NDV in chickens. Here, we evaluated viral replication and mRNA expression of 27 immune-related genes in 10 tissues of geese challenged with a genotype VIId NDV strain of goose origin (go/CH/LHLJ/1/06). The virus showed early replication, especially in digestive and immune tissues. The expression profiles showed up-regulation of Toll-like receptor (TLR)1–3, 5, 7, and 15, avian β-defensin (AvBD) 5–7, 10, 12, and 16, cytokines [interleukin (IL)-8, IL-18, IL-1β, and interferon-γ], inducible NO synthase (iNOS), and MHC class I in some tissues of geese in response to NDV. In contrast, NDV infection suppressed expression of AvBD1 in cecal tonsil of geese. Moreover, we observed a highly positive correlation between viral replication and host mRNA expressions of TLR1-5 and 7, AvBD4-6, 10, and 12, all the cytokines measured, MHC class I, FAS ligand, and iNOS, mainly at 72 h post-infection. Taken together, these results demonstrated that NDV infection induces strong innate immune responses and intense inflammatory responses at early stage in goose which may associate with the viral pathogenesis.
Highlights
Newcastle disease (ND), caused by Newcastle disease virus (NDV), is regarded as one of the most important avian diseases (Häuslaigner et al, 2009)
A BLASTN search revealed that the sequence of the first peptide (56 amino acids) showed the highest amino acid identity (80.9%) to chicken AvBD4, comparing with other AvBDs and defensins of the mammals
The GXC motif and the six cysteine residues were found in the predicted amino acid sequences of these four peptides that are conserved across all β-defensins
Summary
Newcastle disease (ND), caused by Newcastle disease virus (NDV), is regarded as one of the most important avian diseases (Häuslaigner et al, 2009). The virus caused an economically serious disease in almost all poultry (Alexander, 1988; Sun et al, 2013). Waterfowls, such as duck and goose, are generally considered to be natural reservoirs or carriers of NDV, even those most virulent for chicken (Alexander, 2001; Alexander and Senne, 2008). Serious ND outbreaks have been reported in flocks of geese in China (Liu et al, 2003). The geese challenged with NDV of goose origin showed clinical signs such as anorexia, white diarrhea, depression, nasal discharges, ocular, and dead (Wan et al, 2004; Häuslaigner et al, 2009). Most reports have focused on the molecular characteristics and pathogenicity of epidemic strains (Kumar et al, 2011; Chen et al, 2012; Wang et al, 2015), while the host–virus interactions remain largely unknown
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