Development and evaluation of Newcastle disease - avian influenza bivalent vector vaccines in commercial chickens

• Published in: International immunopharmacology Vol. 120; p. 110363
• Main Authors: Wu, Qing, Wei, Lan, Du, Xin, Sun, Wenying, Li, Shuang, Guo, Xiaochen, Jiang, Ming, Liu, Jinmiao, Xue, Zhiqiang, Li, Huijuan, Zhang, Tingting, Wang, Wei, Ren, Guiping
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Netherlands Elsevier B.V 01-07-2023
• Subjects: Animals; Antibodies, Viral; Avian flu; Bivalent vaccine; Chickens; GM-CSF; Humoral and cell-mediated immune responses; Influenza in Birds - prevention & control; Influenza Vaccines; Newcastle disease; Newcastle Disease - prevention & control; Newcastle disease virus - genetics; Poultry Diseases; Vaccines, Combined; Vaccines, Synthetic; Viral Vaccines; Newcastle disease; Bivalent vaccine; Humoral and cell-mediated immune responses; GM-CSF; ND; AI; Avian flu
• ISSN: 1567-5769; 1878-1705
• DOI: 10.1016/j.intimp.2023.110363

•The bivalent vaccine was constructed and rescued successfully.•The bivalent vaccine stimulated stronger immune response rapidly.•The two vaccine candidates developed in this study can bypass maternal antibodies to protect commercial chickens against Newcastle disease and avian influenza viruses.•This study provides new ideas for developing new vaccines against different subtypes of avian influenza viruses.
Avian influenza (AI) and Newcastle disease (ND) are regarded as the leading viral infectious diseases affecting the global poultry industry. Vaccination is a successful therapeutic intervention to safeguard birds against both ND and AI infections. In this research, ND-AI bivalent vaccines were developed through the incorporation of HA and IRES-GMCSF gene fragments at varying locations of NDV rClone30 vectors. The two constructed vaccines were rClone30-HA-IRES-GMCSF(PM) and rClone30-HA(PM)-IRES-GMCSF(NP). Next, 27-day-old Luhua chickens (the maternal antibody level was reduced to 1.4 log2) were inoculated with the same dose of the vaccines, and humoral and cellular immune responses were assessed at multiple time points. Compared to the commercial vaccine, the levels of anti-NDV antibodies following the administration of the ND-AI vaccines were above the theoretical protection value of 4 log2. The levels of anti-AIV antibodies in the bivalent vaccine group were notably higher than those in the commercial vaccine group. Furthermore, the content of inflammatory factors and transcription levels were significantly increased in chickens administered ND-AI vaccines. The ND-AI vaccines induced stronger proliferative responses of B cells or CD3+, CD8+, and CD4 + T cells. Hematoxylin and eosin staining showed that the tissue damage induced by the two recombinant vaccines was similar to that of commercial vaccines. The outcomes of the study suggest that the two bivalent ND-AI vaccine candidates produced using the reverse genetics approach are both secure and effective. This approach not only enables the multiuse of one vaccine but also provides a new concept for the development of other vaccines against infectious viral diseases.