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Viruses
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Marek's Disease Virus
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Marek's Disease Virus

A special issue of Viruses (ISSN 1999-4915). This special issue belongs to the section "Animal Viruses".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 September 2024 | Viewed by 1902

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Keith Jarosinski

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Guest Editor
Department of Pathobiology, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61802, USA
Interests: herpesvirus replication; pathogenesis; transmission and transformation
Dr. Nagendraprabhu Ponnuraj

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Pathobiology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801, USA
Interests: DNA virus replication and pathogenesis
Dr. Haji Akbar

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Pathobiology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801, USA
Interests: virus infection; innate immune responses to virus infection

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Marek’s disease (MD) virus (MDV) has caused major problems worldwide. It is a highly contagious herpesvirus that causes cancer in poultry species, primarily chickens. It is a member of the Alphaherpesvirinae within the Orthoherpesviridae family with similar replicative properties to other alphaherpesviruses like human herpes simplex (HSV) and varicella zoster (VZV) viruses that spread through shedding from epithelial skin cells. However, within the host, its pathogenesis is more similar to gammaherpesviruses with its lymphotropic nature, and like Epstein-Barr (EBV) and Kaposi-sarcoma-associated (KSHV) viruses, transform lymphocytes inducing cancer. Research on MDV has produced tremendous knowledge of virus-induced disease and cancer, and transmission from host to host over the decades. However, there are still significant gaps in knowledge in understanding the viral and host factors that contribute to virus replication, transformation, and transmission. In addition, information about how homologous vaccines are used to protect chickens from MDV-induced disease and understanding the mechanistic importance these vaccines play are needed to develop new vaccines and antiviral strategies. This Special Issue will focus on articles that provide deeper insights into important aspects of MDV and related MD vaccines, lytic replication, latency, transformation, reactivation, pathogenesis, and immune system interactions.

Dr. Keith Jarosinski
Dr. Nagendraprabhu Ponnuraj
Dr. Haji Akbar
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Viruses is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Marek’s disease virus (MDV)
  • poultry
  • herpesvirus
  • cancer
  • transmission
  • pathogenesis

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

23 pages, 2571 KiB  
Article
Temporal Dynamics of Purinergic Receptor Expression in the Lungs of Marek’s Disease (MD) Virus-Infected Chickens Resistant or Susceptible to MD
by Haji Akbar and Keith W. Jarosinski
Viruses 2024, 16(7), 1130; https://doi.org/10.3390/v16071130 - 14 Jul 2024
Viewed by 231
Abstract
Marek’s disease virus (MDV) is an economic concern for the poultry industry due to its poorly understood pathophysiology. Purinergic receptors (PRs) are potential therapeutic targets for viral infections, including herpesviruses, prompting our investigation into their role in MDV pathogenesis. The current study is [...] Read more.
Marek’s disease virus (MDV) is an economic concern for the poultry industry due to its poorly understood pathophysiology. Purinergic receptors (PRs) are potential therapeutic targets for viral infections, including herpesviruses, prompting our investigation into their role in MDV pathogenesis. The current study is part of an experimental series analyzing the expression of PRs during MDV infection. To address the early or short-acting P2 PR responses during natural MDV infection, we performed an “exposure” experiment where age-matched chickens were exposed to experimentally infected shedders to initiate natural infection. In addition, select non-PR regulatory gene responses were measured. Two groups of naïve contact chickens (n = 5/breed/time point) from MD-resistant (White Leghorns: WL) and -susceptible (Pure Columbian) chicken lines were housed separately with experimentally infected PC (×PC) and WL (×WL) chickens for 6 or 24 h. Whole lung lavage cells (WLLC) were collected, RNA was extracted, and RT-qPCR assays were used to measure specific PR responses. In addition, other potentially important markers in pathophysiology were measured. Our study revealed that WL chickens exhibited higher P1 PR expression during natural infection. WL chickens also showed higher expression of P1A3 and P2X3 at 6 and 24 h when exposed to PC-infected chickens. P2X5 and P2Y1 showed higher expression at 6 h, while P2Y5 showed higher expression at 6 and 24 h; regardless of the chicken line, PC chickens exhibited higher expression of P2X2, P2Y8, P2Y10, P2Y13, and P2Y14 when exposed to either group of infected chickens. In addition, MDV infection altered the expression of DDX5 in both WL and PC groups exposed to PC-infected birds only. However, irrespective of the source of exposure, BCL2 and ANGPTL4 showed higher expression in both WL and PC. The expression of STAT1A and STAT5A was influenced by time and breed, with major changes observed in STAT5A. CAT and SOD1 expression significantly increased in both WL and PC birds, regardless of the source of infection. GPX1 and GPX2 expression also increased in both WL and PC, although overall lower expression was observed in PC chickens at 24 h compared to 6 h. Our data suggest systemic changes in the host during early infection, indicated by the altered expression of PRs, DDX5, BCL2, ANGPTL4, and other regulatory genes during early MDV infection. The relative expression of these responses in PC and WL chickens suggests they may play a key role in their response to natural MDV infection in the lungs and long-term pathogenesis and survival. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Marek's Disease Virus)
16 pages, 2154 KiB  
Article
Temporal Changes in Splenic Immune Cell Populations following Infection with a Very Virulent plus MDV in Commercial Meat-Type Chickens
by Nagwa Khaled, Raveendra R. Kulkarni, Tobias Käser and Isabel M. Gimeno
Viruses 2024, 16(7), 1092; https://doi.org/10.3390/v16071092 - 6 Jul 2024
Viewed by 496
Abstract
Marek’s disease virus (MDV) can cause severe immunosuppression in chickens. Our previous study showed that infection with very virulent plus (vv+) MDV strains of one-day-old commercial meat-type chickens possessing maternal antibodies against MDV resulted in severe depletion of splenocytes at 28–30 days of [...] Read more.
Marek’s disease virus (MDV) can cause severe immunosuppression in chickens. Our previous study showed that infection with very virulent plus (vv+) MDV strains of one-day-old commercial meat-type chickens possessing maternal antibodies against MDV resulted in severe depletion of splenocytes at 28–30 days of age. In the present study, we have investigated the effect of vv+MDV strain 686 on splenic immunophenotypes at 6, 20, and 30 days post-infection (dpi). Both live and dead cells were analyzed, and the data were statistically compared to the uninfected control. The results revealed a decrease in the total live cell population starting on day 20, primarily affecting B cells, CD8β+, and gamma delta (γδ) T cells, while the frequencies of both live and dead CD3+ and CD4+ T cells were increased. The MHC-I expression of CD3+ and CD4+ T cells was higher at 20 and 30 dpi, while the expression of MHC-II on these cells was downregulated at 6 dpi but was upregulated at 30 dpi. Collectively, these results suggest that maternal antibodies seem to delay the negative effects of vv+MDV on the splenic lymphoid populations, albeit being non-protective. Our results emphasize the importance of MD vaccination in vv+MDV endemic areas. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Marek's Disease Virus)
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14 pages, 3743 KiB  
Article
mRNA Splicing of UL44 and Secretion of Alphaherpesvirinae Glycoprotein C (gC) Is Conserved among the Mardiviruses
by Huai Xu, Widaliz Vega-Rodriguez, Valeria Campos and Keith W. Jarosinski
Viruses 2024, 16(5), 782; https://doi.org/10.3390/v16050782 - 15 May 2024
Viewed by 732
Abstract
Marek’s disease (MD), caused by gallid alphaherpesvirus 2 (GaAHV2) or Marek’s disease herpesvirus (MDV), is a devastating disease in chickens characterized by the development of lymphomas throughout the body. Vaccine strains used against MD include gallid alphaherpesvirus 3 (GaAHV3), a non-oncogenic chicken alphaherpesvirus [...] Read more.
Marek’s disease (MD), caused by gallid alphaherpesvirus 2 (GaAHV2) or Marek’s disease herpesvirus (MDV), is a devastating disease in chickens characterized by the development of lymphomas throughout the body. Vaccine strains used against MD include gallid alphaherpesvirus 3 (GaAHV3), a non-oncogenic chicken alphaherpesvirus homologous to MDV, and homologous meleagrid alphaherpesvirus 1 (MeAHV1) or turkey herpesvirus (HVT). Previous work has shown most of the MDV gC produced during in vitro passage is secreted into the media of infected cells although the predicted protein contains a transmembrane domain. We formerly identified two alternatively spliced gC mRNAs that are secreted during MDV replication in vitro, termed gC104 and gC145 based on the size of the intron removed for each UL44 (gC) transcript. Since gC is conserved within the Alphaherpesvirinae subfamily, we hypothesized GaAHV3 (strain 301B/1) and HVT also secrete gC due to mRNA splicing. To address this, we collected media from 301B/1- and HVT-infected cell cultures and used Western blot analyses and determined that both 301B/1 and HVT produced secreted gC. Next, we extracted RNAs from 301B/1- and HVT-infected cell cultures and chicken feather follicle epithelial (FFE) skin cells. RT-PCR analyses confirmed one splicing variant for 301B/1 gC (gC104) and two variants for HVT gC (gC104 and gC145). Interestingly, the splicing between all three viruses was remarkably conserved. Further analysis of predicted and validated mRNA splicing donor, branch point (BP), and acceptor sites suggested single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) within the 301B/1 UL44 transcript sequence resulted in no gC145 being produced. However, modification of the 301B/1 gC145 donor, BP, and acceptor sites to the MDV UL44 sequences did not result in gC145 mRNA splice variant, suggesting mRNA splicing is more complex than originally hypothesized. In all, our results show that mRNA splicing of avian herpesviruses is conserved and this information may be important in developing the next generation of MD vaccines or therapies to block transmission. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Marek's Disease Virus)
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