Abstract
Marek’s disease virus (MDV) is an oncogenic alphaherpesvirus that causes deadly lymphomas in chickens. In chickens, up to 50% of all peripheral T cells are gamma delta (γδ) T cells. Until now, their role in MDV pathogenesis and tumor formation remains poorly understood. To investigate the role of γδ T cells in MDV pathogenesis, we infected recently generated γδ T cell knockout chickens with very virulent MDV. Strikingly, disease and tumor incidence were highly increased in the absence of γδ T cells, indicating that γδ T cells play an important role in the immune response against MDV. In the absence of γδ T cells, virus replication was drastically increased in the thymus and spleen, which are potential sites of T cell transformation. Taken together, our data provide the first evidence that γδ T cells play an important role in the pathogenesis and tumor formation of this highly oncogenic herpesvirus.
Original language | English |
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Journal | mBio |
Volume | 15 |
Issue number | 8 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 1 Aug 2024 |
Keywords
- Marek’s disease virus
- cellular immunity
- gamma delta T cells
- tumorigenesis
- tumors