A recombinant Marek’s disease vaccine candidate provides complete protection against infectious bursal disease virus and H9 subtype avian influenza virus in chickens

作者：Wenrui Fan, Xianying Zeng, Yuntong Chen, Qingqing Yu, Zibo Zhang, Guobin Tian, Chang‐Jun Liu, Hongmei Bao, Xiaole Qi, Longbo Wu, Yanping Zhang, Yongzhen Liu, Suyan Wang, Hongyu Cui, Yulu Duan, Hualan Chen, Yulong Gao · 发表于：Journal of Virology · 年份：2025 · DOI：10.1128/jvi.01149-25 · 被引用次数：4 · 研究领域：Virology and Viral Diseases、Vector-Borne Animal Diseases、Viral Infections and Immunology Research

Vaccination is the most effective preventative measure against economically devastating poultry diseases, such as infectious bursal disease (IBD), H9 subtype avian influenza (AI), and Marek's disease. In recent decades, various vaccination strategies have been investigated and developed. Among these, multivalent and combination vaccines, which confer protection against multiple diseases in a single dose, have emerged as a significant advancement in veterinary medicine. This study demonstrates that the attenuated Marek's disease virus serotype 1 (MDV-1) vaccine strain, rMSΔMeq, known for its safety and robust carrier immunogenicity, can serve as a vector for the heterologous expression of multiple antigenic proteins. We constructed the recombinant virus rMDV-VP2-HA by inserting the H9 subtype avian influenza virus (AIV) hemagglutinin (HA) expression cassette into the UL41 region and the infectious bursal disease virus (IBDV) VP2 expression cassette into the US2 region. The growth characteristics of this recombinant virus were consistent with those of the parental virus, and it stably expressed the HA and VP2 genes. Vaccination with rMDV-VP2-HA induces high titers of IBDV-neutralizing antibodies and hemagglutinin inhibition (HI) antibodies and elicits strong cellular immune responses. Specifically, vaccination with rMDV-VP2-HA enhances interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) expression in response to stimulation with HA and VP2 proteins. Meanwhile, cytokines associated with both Th1 and Th2 r...