Efficacy of an autophagy-targeted DNA vaccine against avian leukosis virus subgroup J. Issue 5 (1st February 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Dai, Zhenkai; Huang, Jianfei; Lei, Xiaoya; Yan, Yiming; Lu, Piaopiao; Zhang, Huanmin; Lin, Wencheng; Chen, Weiguo; Ma, Jingyun; Xie, Qingmei
• Is Part Of: Vaccine. Volume 35:Issue 5(2017)
• Page Start: 808
• Page End: 813
• Publication Date: 2017-02-01
• Subjects: DNA vaccine -- Avian leucosis virus -- Autophagy -- Rapamycin; Vaccines -- Periodicals; 615.372
• DOI: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2016.12.034
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0264-410X

Abstract

Abstract: Infection with the avian leukosis virus subgroup J (ALV-J) can lead to neoplastic disease in chickens, inflicting significant economic losses to the poultry industry. Recent reports have identified inhibitory effects of ALV-J on autophagy, a process involving in innate and adaptive immunity. Inspired by this connection between autophagy and immunity, we developed a novel DNA vaccine against ALV-J which includes co-administration of rapamycin to stimulate autophagy. To measure the efficacy of the developed prototype vaccine, five experimental groups of seven-day-old chickens was immunized three times at three-week intervals respectively with vector, pVAX1-gp85, pVAX1-gp85-LC3, pVAX1-gp85 + rapamycin and pVAX1-gp85-LC3 + rapamycin through electroporation. We then tested their antibody titers, cytokine levels and cellular immune responses. The immunoprotective efficacy of the prototype vaccines against the challenge of the ALV-J GD1109 strain was also examined. The results showed that the combination of pVAX1-gp85-LC3 and rapamycin was able to induce the highest antibody titers, and enhance interleukin(IL)-2, IL-10 and interferon (IFN)-γ expression, and the chickens immunized with the combination of pVAX1-gp85-LC3 and rapamycin showed the highest percentage of CD3+ CD8+ T lymphocytes. Based on our results, we suggest that stimulating autophagy can improve the efficacy of DNA vaccines and that our DNA vaccine shows the potential of being a candidate vaccine against ALV-J. This study provides a novel strategy for developing vaccines against ALV-J.