TY - JOUR T1 - Quantification of rHVT-F genome load in feather follicles by specific real-time qPCR as an indicator of NDV-specific humoral immunity induced by day-old vaccination in SPF chickens. JF - Avian Pathol Y1 - 2015 A1 - Fabienne Rauw A1 - Steven Van Borm A1 - Sarah Welby A1 - Ngabirano, E A1 - Gardin, Y A1 - Palya, V A1 - Bénédicte Lambrecht KW - Animals KW - Bursa of Fabricius KW - Chickens KW - Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay KW - Feathers KW - Fluorescence KW - Genetic Load KW - Herpesvirus Vaccines KW - Immunity, Humoral KW - Lung KW - Models, Genetic KW - Newcastle Disease KW - Oligonucleotides KW - Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction KW - Specific Pathogen-Free Organisms KW - Turkey KW - Vaccination AB -

The purpose of this study was to look for a reliable molecular method for confirmation of uptake of recombinant turkey herpesvirus vaccine against Newcastle disease (rHVT-F) and for use as a valuable prediction tool of Newcastle disease virus (NDV)-specific immune response in chickens deprived of maternally derived antibody (MDA). A quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (real-time qPCR) specific to rHVT-F was developed. The method was applied to various tissue samples taken from specific pathogen free (SPF) chickens experimentally inoculated at day-old with one dose of rHVT-F vaccine over a 6-week period. Among the tested tissues, the rHVT-F vaccine was detected predominantly in the bursa of Fabricius (BF) and the lung for the first week, followed by a progressive decline from 9 days onwards. Then, an increase of genome load was observed in the feather follicles (FF) with a peak at 2 weeks, rising to a level almost 10(3)-fold greater than in the other tissues. Importantly, the rHVT-F genome load in FF appeared to be strongly correlated to the humoral immunity specific to NDV as evaluated by haemagglutination inhibition (HI) test and NDV-specific IgG, IgM and IgA ELISAs. This is the first report of quantification of rHVT-F vaccine in FF and its correlation with the induction of ND-specific immune response in chickens with no MDA. Our data indicate that the application of this real-time qPCR assay on FF samples taken from chickens in the field may be used to confirm rHVT-F vaccine administration and uptake with the important added benefit of offering a non-disruptive sampling procedure.

VL - 44 CP - 3 U1 - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25687165?dopt=Abstract M3 - 10.1080/03079457.2015.1018869 ER -