Infectious Bursal Disease Virus Influences the Transcription of Chicken γ(c) and γ(c) Family Cytokines during Infection

Infectious bursal disease virus (IBDV) infection causes immunodeficiency in chickens. To understand cell-mediated immunity during IBDV infection, this study perform a detailed analysis of chicken γ(c) chain (chCD132) and γ(c) family cytokines, including interleukins 2, 4, 7, 9, and 15. The mouse anti-chCD132 monoclonal antibody (mAb) was first generated by the E.coli-expressed γ(c) protein. Immunofluorescence assay further showed that γ(c) was a protein located with the anti-chCD132 mAb on the surface of chicken's splenic mononuclear cells. Real-time quantitative RT-PCR revealed that the chCD132 mRNA transcript was persistently downregulated in embryo fibroblasts, spleen and thymus of chickens infected with IBDV. Correspondingly during IBDV infection, the transcription of five γ(c) family cytokines was downregulated in the thymus and presented an imbalance in the spleen. Fluorescence-activated cell sorting analyses also indicated that the percentage of CD132(+)CD8(+) T cells linearly decreased in the bursa of IBDV-infected chickens. These results confirmed that IBDV infection disturbed the in vivo balance of CD132 and γ(c) family cytokine expression and that IBDV-induced immunodeficiency involved cellular networks related to the γ(c) family.