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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Athens, Georgia » U.S. National Poultry Research Center » Endemic Poultry Viral Diseases Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #353896
Research Project: Genetic and Biological Determinants of Avian Herpesviruses Pathogenicity, Transmission, and Evolution to Inform the Development of Effective Control Strategies

Location: Endemic Poultry Viral Diseases Research

Title: Two class I genes of the chicken MHC have different functions: BF1 is recognized by NK cells while BF2 is recognized by CTLs

Author
item Kim, Taejoong
item Hunt, Henry
item PARCELLS, MARK - University Of Delaware
item VAN SANTEN, VICKY - Auburn University
item EWALD, SANDRA - Auburn University

Submitted to: Immunogenetics
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/26/2018
Publication Date: 7/1/2018
Citation: Kim, T.N., Hunt, H.D., Parcells, M.S., Van Santen, V., Ewald, S.J. 2018. Two class I genes of the chicken MHC have different functions: BF1 is recognized by NK cells while BF2 is recognized by CTLs. Immunogenetics. 70(9):599-611. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00251-018-1066-2.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00251-018-1066-2

Interpretive Summary: Marek’s disease is a highly contagious lymphoproliferative disease in chicken induced by the Marek’s disease virus (MDV). Diseases induced by this virus are, in part, due to their ability to evade the natural defense mechanisms of the host. Understanding the mechanisms pathogens use to evade the host’s immune response is critical for developing next-generation vaccine strategies to control the disease and improve animal health. This report describes a host gene, induced by the Marek’s disease virus that inhibits natural immunity against virus infection.

Technical Abstract: The function of the chicken’s major histocompatibility complex (MHC or B complex) class I major (BF2) and minor (BF1) glycoproteins are compared for their expression, ability to present viral antigens to cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) and interaction with natural killer (NK) cells. MHC restricted CTLs recognized virus antigen in the context of the BF2*21 major glycoprotein but not the BF1*21 minor glycoprotein. Marek’s disease virus (MDV), a large DNA virus known to reduce the cell surface expression of class I glycoprotein, reduced the expression of BF2 glycoprotein while BF1glycoprotein expressions are remained as no change or slight increase. In addition, the expression of BF1*21 class I glycoprotein protected target cells from NK cell lysis while the expression of the BF2*21 class I glycoprotein enhanced NK cell lysis of target cells. Therefore, BF1 and BF2 provide two different cellular immune functions; BF1 negatively regulates the NK cell killing activity and BF2 restricts the antigen specific CTLs immune response.