ARS | Publication request: Differential innate cytokine responses correlate with pathogenicity in chickens and ducks following infection with Asian H5N1 viruses

Submitted to: Western Poultry Disease Conference
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: January 5, 2007
Publication Date: March 26, 2007
Citation: Kapczynski, D.R., Pantin Jackwood, M.J. 2007. Differential innate cytokine responses correlate with pathogenicity in chickens and ducks following infection with Asian H5N1 viruses [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 56th Western Poultry Disease Conference, March 26-29, 2007, Las Vegas, Nevada. p. 60.

Technical Abstract: The immune system can be divided into two functional components, the innate and adaptive, that differ in their mechanism of pathogen recognition and response. The innate immune response is responsible for detecting invading microorganisms during the initial stages of infection, which is a crucial determinant of disease resistance or susceptibility. Because chickens normally succumb to disease within 3-4 days after infection with highly pathogenic Asian H5N1 avian influenza (AI), the adaptive immune response likely contributes little to defense against disease. On the other hand, waterfowl, including ducks, are considered natural reservoirs for AI and rarely display clinical signs of disease. The reasons for the differences in susceptibility and pathogenicity of different avian species to different pathotypes of AI are unclear and ill defined. These studies were designed to examine the role of the innate immune response in protection from disease by measuring cytokine expression with RRT-PCR immediately following infection. The results indicate differential cytokine expression in vivo between chickens and ducks following exposure to AI. Ducks resistant to disease generally displayed increased cytokine expression, while chickens susceptible to disease tended to exhibit suppressed cytokine expression.